Life Lately

Sometime earlier this week...

L gets up at 5 for work & I finally get up at 5:20 to make his lunch & have an early morning coffee with him. J hears us banging around in the kitchen because no matter how quiet I try to be I always seem to make noise. Today was no exception - I cut a slice of birthday cake for L for his lunch and set the lid of the glass cake cover off balance on the plate and it banged onto the granite. Of course that woke J & so that meant she needed to be fed. After feeding J & wishing L a good day at work I can often have J get an extra hour of sleep. I should really be productive & work out or read a novel or even paint my toe nails but I'm just so tired so I crawl back into bed. And yet I can't sleep, probably that early morning coffee, so I zoom around the internet aimlessly. This morning my curiosity was piqued by a book mentioned about Exploring Nature with Children & a bloggers video about their weekend in Chicago. I'd like to make videos on iMovie. Or travel to Chicago & eat deep dish pizza & see a Cubs game at Wrigley Field. Or do both.

Today I was to have an appointment to set up an RESP (Registered Education Savings Plan) at the bank for J but over the weekend we had a massive hail storm that smashed in the glass sunroof of our Venza- so I can't drive it until we have had all the glass cleaned out & the insurance adjusters look at it. So J & I are having to stay close to home. The hail storm was epic. I've never experienced anything like that before. L said it was raining & then it got really quiet all of a sudden. He thought it was a tornado as there have been several weather alerts this summer in Saskatchewan for tornados. He quickly woke me & told me to get J- by that time the hail has started. It was so loud banging against our house. He quickly shut the windows in the bedrooms, but not before a hail stone hit the screen and popped it out of the window. Then he raced to find the keys & move the vehicles into the garage. We are kicking ourselves for not having had the vehicles in the garage-- but we didn't know we would have hail. It was too late & the cars had been peppered with hail. They look like they got too close to a driving range. The hail even punched golf ball sized holes in the siding of our house & dented up the eaves troughs. 

Yes, it's true, we can finally park our cars in our garage- barely. Much of the boxes have been moved inside. That's not to say all the boxes have been unpacked yet. I might rank among the slowest to unpack. I have somehow lost the book All the Light We Cannot See that I was reading which derailed my reading efforts, as in my brain, I need closure on that book before I read another. I finally this past week ordered another copy through the library, and now it is in, but I am without wheels. Likely in the same box is the missing camera for the baby monitor. At first that delayed my efforts to transition J to her crib, but she had outgrown her bassinet so it was time when my family came to visit to move her. She's only a hop & skip down the hall & I can really hear when she moves in her crib from my bed. I just can't see her. It would be great to have the monitor so I could read on the deck while she is napping but I think I'll just live with not having the monitor until I find & open that box because to replace the monitor would be expensive as I found it on Black Friday at half price. I find Baby J in all sorts of new positions in the crib & wonder how she managed to get from the top of the crib to the bottom & be turned that way. She insists on sleeping on her tummy or her side now, which at first left me sleepless checking on her all the time, righting her to her back--and waking her in the process. It was miserable and I worried about sleep regression as previously she had been sleeping through the night.

My entire family came to visit in July! We hosted Christmas in July as it was our turn to host Christmas, but also for my family to meet J. Traveling in the winter can be dangerous. L also works this Christmas. I sent out invites on paperless post earlier in the year to my family with an itinerary of all the fun we would have. Paperless post is so fun! If you have an event to plan, or like to send cards, do try paperless post. This is not a sponsored advert but because I think it's awesome! We had heaps of fun and I will make a post shortly about our family vacation. 

I have lots of post thoughts I've been meaning to write on yet including an update on Js torticollis, and my porch project. I haven't updated you all on being rear ended at an intersection by a driver from South Carolina & that our house is finally sold or that we just celebrated Ls birthday. July has been a busy month. I can hardly believe J is almost 7 months & is making efforts to crawl. 

Thank you all for following along & reading my blog & being interested in my tales of woe & joyous happenings. 

Baby #2

 

Plans are underway for Baby #2... 

...if any of you are ever reading my blog wondering if you should consider IVF...my advice is to start now because it is never as straightforward as you may expect and there are always a few delays & unexpected loops ahead...but it is so worth it! 

We actually started a few months back already contacting the clinic. We knew it would take a long time so we decided to get the process started. Baby J is almost seven months now, but I have come to learn that it will take several months before another FET (frozen embryo transfer) cycle is offered so in all likelihood baby J will be a year old or older before we are pregnant with our second. We would like to have our littles close in age & because I am already 38 it would be prudent to have a second before I get much older.

Because it has been a year since we last were at the clinic we were informed we needed a new doctor's referral. So after making that appointment we sent in that information and waited. We then received a call & letter for our doctor with next steps. The next steps include the pre-screening investigation tests to be completed. These include a pelvic ultrasound with antral follicle count which can be completed mid cycle & the HSG or Hysterosalpinogram which needs to be completed between days 7-10 of your cycle. It's all complicated with scheduling & knowing when Aunt Flow intends to show up, especially since I have PCOS my cycles are rarely regular.

I've had the pelvic ultrasound completed. And was to have the HSG completed but was to call in on day 1 of my cycle to schedule it, except the radiology technician is away on holidays for those days, and as I live in a small city on the Prairies, there is only one individual who is able to perform this procedure in my community. So I have another month to wait.

Finally after all these tests are completed we will be offered treatment approximately 1-3 months after we have been placed on the active waiting list. Luckily we are on the active waiting list as I have been a previous patient of the clinic. 

Kefir

When I went to visit my aunt & grandma in the Okanagan I was introduced to kefir. My aunt gave me some kefir grains & we've been enjoying it ever since. 

 

Kefir is rich in probiotics. It is similar to a drinkable yogurt - maybe slightly tangier. There are numerous health benefits listed on the Internet if you google kefir. A notable benefit I've noticed is that it helps keep me regular. I first noted this in the Okanagan as often when I travel this can be an uncomfortable problem for me. 

To make kefir:

First acquire some kefir grains. This could be tricky but perhaps you could do an Internet search in your area. My aunt gave me some in a plastic bag that I brought home in my suitcase on the plane.

Add these grains to a glass jar with milk. My grandma said that whole organic milk was best but I've been using 1% milk & it works. I'm sure it would have more health benefits if I were to invest in organic milk or find a farmer willing to sell me fresh milk.

 

Let it sit on the counter for 12-24 hours so that the fermentation takes place. 

The kefir grains use the sugars in the lactose in the milk in the fermentation process. I have found that my kefir gains are growing also & learned on one website it is recommended to use 1-2 teaspoons grains for culturing up to 4 cups of milk. If you don't get to making your kefir you can also put it in the refrigerator which will slow the process - it can be stored then for up to 14 days. 

 

I stir my Kefir with a wooden/plastic spatula to distribute the kefir grains once or twice during the fermentation process & just before I stain the kefir grains so that it doesn't land in a clump in my strainer and slop on the counter.

 

I ordered a nylon/plastic strainer from Amazon. It is recommended you never use metal next to the kefir grains. I strain the kefir right into the blender. 

 

Here are the kefir grains strained out.

Add these back to the jar to start the process again.

 

 

Add fruit to your strained kefir. My favorite fruit to add is blueberries. I love raspberries too but it is too expensive to buy raspberries in store. Strawberries are also delicious and easy to find in most seasons in the grocery store. 

Sometimes I add a banana to add sweetness to the kefir. I've also tried grapes & avocado as pictured below.

 

 

Mmmm enjoy!

If you've never tried kefir I've discovered you can also purchase it pre made in the grocery store. It's a little expensive but worth a try if your curious. 

 

 

Morning Tizzies

The door bell rings and you rush to the door all in a tizzy because who's at the door? Oh! You have a mess going on in your front entry from bringing in a few more boxes to unpack. It's motivation, you see, to load the front entry with boxes that need to be unpacked. Motivation because your not going out anytime soon with that mess of boxes to climb over & you can't have anyone over until this mess of boxes is cleaned up. Did you invite someone over & totally forget this was the day they were coming? Is it a surprise visit? Tizzy, indeed, since the baby just went down for a nap and you'd hoped for five more minutes to scroll through the Facebook & have that cup of coffee. But then! Christmas came & there is no one there but an Amazon package. 

The baby cries, but your all smiles, from opening your box that that cup of coffee can be nuked once more, and well, that Facebook was just keeping you from facing your day.