Quick Mommy Update!

Here's a quick post for those of you who may not have seen Katherine in a little while :-)

Isn't she absolutely beautiful!!! 

Health Update

Well most of you are pretty up to date but here's some info on my growing belly. 

I must say that so far, I've had a very good pregnancy. My first trimester was tough only because I was exhausted all the time. I would make breakfast and have to take a nap afterward. I was told that after the first trimester was over, it would be smooth sailing. So far that has been the hardest part of all. I've been lucky enough that there has been no vomiting and barely any nausea.

I've been gaining weight at a steady rate. I am 179lbs. Yes. You read that right. I'm one point smaller than I should be. 

After my first slew of blood tests, I found out that all was normal except that my iron levels were a little below normal. This was no surprise to me, I expected her to say that, since I've been anemic in the past. So aside from my prenatal vitamin, I'm also taking an iron pill every day. No biggie :) If my iron levels do not increase by the next blood test, then she'll have to increase my dose.

Now that I'm approaching my third trimester, I'm feeling a lot bigger and a little helpless when I try to get up after lying on the couch. It's a little like being a turtle on its back. :)

I have to keep in mind that I can't run around and push myself like usual, or my back and stomach starts to hurt. I'm finally able to accept my limits, and let people do things for me. It's nice!

Yesterday, I had my Gestational Diabetes Mellitus test. I think that's what it's called in English. Everything has been in french so I've been getting used to that terminology.

I got to the clinic at 6:55 am with my lovely urine sample in hand, only to find out it was useless because I had peed at 5:30 am and it wasn't "fresh" enough. So I had to wait to pee again.

Meanwhile, I had to drink an orange glucose tolerance drink, called Trutol 50, which tasted exactly like Orange Crush. I had to down 50g of the bubbly dextrose drink in less than five minutes. Piece of cake. Then I had to wait one hour before my blood test. 

55 minutes later...

Everyone in the waiting room stinks, and I feel like throwing up. :-( 

Since I've been preggers, I've had the nose of a bloodhound. So I could smell the lingering aroma of stale cigarettes, perfume, and powdered makeup. The Orange Crush was so heavy in my empty stomach. I needed fresh air in a big way! Thank goodness that I was up next. The nurse only took one vile of blood this time around (instead of the seven like last time). I was disappointed to find out that I could've had water while I waited! That would've really helped!!! 

Once I got outside, I felt great again! 

I find out if I'm diabetic next time I visit. I'll keep you all posted!

Why: Salt In My Coffee???

Since almost all of you have asked us why we decided to title our blog: Salt In My Coffee, we've decided to let you all know at the same time (in order to avoid jealousy). Thank you all for asking by the way!

Ok then, here's the story behind the title of our blog:

Above, are all of your confused faces. Nobody actually asked us why we named our blog the way we did, but hopefully for 10 seconds or so, you felt bad for not asking because you thought that everyone else had! :-)

Has anyone met Katherine? As you might know, she can sometimes enjoy pulling a prank!! Anyway, while we were in England Katherine made me a nice cup of coffee.... Funny enough, it had been made with salt instead of what most of us use: SUGAR! I spent the rest of the trip doing the same thing to her... 

One time, my mom even looked at me like I was a nut for it!!!

Then (again) while we were in England, we decided that we should start a blog together instead of continuing our own separate ones... After all, our lives are together, why isn't our blog right? So, we pondered over names for several seconds and we decided with: Salt In My Coffee. It really describes what goes on in our lives on a daily basis. It might not always necessarily be salt in my coffee, but it could be anything that makes us laugh, or that keeps us on our toes. Who knows if someone might break into the bathroom while the other is taking a shower, in order to throw cold water onto their unsuspecting heads (Katherine started that one too)!

We love laughing and are anxiously waiting for our son, so that we can laugh along with him. Maybe we'll change the blog name to: Salt In My Breast Milk!.... No, we wouldn't do that.

Happy Valentines Day My Love!!!

Just want to take this opportunity to tell you that; I love you Katherine! My heart burns for you!

Maya brings...

...a whole new meaning to the term "Pre Rinse"!

Coraline Official Trailer

Happy Valentines Day!

I hope everyone had a great V-Day! Rich and I spent our evening snuggled up on the couch after and awesome BBQ supper, of jerk chicken and spicy veggies. Yep a BBQ! The weather was mild enough to have one, I shoveled the ice and snow off of the deck a few days ago, while I was on poop detail. 

We rented a few movies after we did groceries, and managed to watch one (Crash) before falling asleep. It was great!

I spent the last two days in the West Island at my parents. I went to visit Amy on Thurs evening. It was nice to see her after such a long time. She's still teaching and loving and hating it at once. The typical teacher experience!

 I picked her up, and we headed to Panier to poke around with my Christmas gift certificate in hand. I wanted to see if there were any new spices that Rich would like, since the store has such a great variety. I found one from "Dave's Gourmet" www.davesgourmet.com . We really like all of the products from that line of spice, and haven't gone wrong yet. I found him one called Scotch Bonnet, which is supposed to be pretty hot. We'll see...He's got a much higher tolerance for spice than I do. I also picked up two really cute scented candles, from Yankee of course! :) 

We went out for a drink (Perrier for me of course!) and caught up some more.

I headed back to my parents who were watching Maya, and had a late supper with Mom, then headed to bed.

I spent Friday with my brother and then decided to spend another night because I didn't want to drive all the way back in the dark etc...So Mom spoiled us again with Pizza and took me to see Coraline. I loved it! It was in 3D. I've been looking forward to seeing it for awhile.

It was a whopping $30.00 to see because you had to pay for the glasses as well. 

It was well worth it. I won't ruin it for those who want see it but the animation was stunning, and the music was enough to put you to sleep (in a good way). As usual I did fall asleep for about 20 mins! It's almost impossible for me to stay awake in a theater. It's too relaxing! Last time I fell asleep, it was between Richard's brothers, Dan and Adam, on Boxing Day. I was later informed by them that I was even snoring. That wasn't embarrassing AT ALL!

The following morning, I made the family a Valentine breakfast. It was fun to make a regular breakfast and to use the nice dishes :) Hearts on the table, and strawberries in little champagne glasses! It really dressed it up. 

 

Thanks again to Mom for really spoiling me! Thank you so much!

xox

Saturday Tobogganing

We've definitely been getting a much needed break from the deep freeze temperatures. We snuck out of our caves, and went on a little tobogganing adventure this past Saturday. I don't want to mislead you, the above pic is of Mont St-Hilaire, the mountain right by home. I always admire and love seeing it in the different seasons. Can't wait to climb it this summer. :) 

 We ended up tobogganing on an even bigger mountain! Jk It was a local hill that was safer and much smaller. :)

They had a fair climb to the top

Despite the nice temperatures, it was pretty windy but the boys were all smiles!

Zach said it was the best day of his life. He kept asking Rich if it was his too bc we were all laughing so much!

Rogue toboggan

and the capture...

Josh made it down the hill without smashing into a fence! Sweet!

It was smooth sailing for the most part

With some bumps

and funny spills!

We all had a great time but were in need of some serious hot chocolate afterward!

It was a big success!

The weekend before, Olga came over for supper, I'm on a sweet potato kick at the moment and have been making different sweet potato dishes. This time we had baked chicken breasts on a ciabatta bread with sweet potato fries and a curry dip. It was yummy! I usually make a baked chicken curry with grilled veggies etc on the ciabatta...but Olga has a sensitive stomach. Olga and I caught up on daily events (even though we talk almost daily!), her and Rich beat Little Big Planet on PS3,  and we enjoyed a yummy dessert as always. It was a great time as usual!

Super Bowl Sunday, Mom and Dad came to visit, and had...Chicken a la Mommy! While in England, Rich's Mom Sue was nice enough to cook it twice!  The second time I was her sous chef and got a chance to learn straight from the pro's recipe! (not Rich's, cough cough ;))

I've made it twice since I got back! It's basically a chicken pot pie. 

I love the fact that it's made from scratch, and then I make soup with the broth of the boiled chicken. Sooo yummy. My parents loved it!  

Lexi & Maya Papaya=BFFs

These two boobs are always up for some fun. Who is their main source of entertainment? Me of course! :-) ... They are always waiting!

Maya loves to lie in the sunshine during the cold winter months... She also sleeps under the blankets. She pats you on the head with her paw so you can lift the covers for her. Then she crawls out once it gets too warm, and so on, alllll night long.

They share the sunshine too...

Lexi is ALWAYS on squirrel patrol, she gets a good view from the stairs

Don't be fooled, she's still on guard

Meanwhile, Maya busies herself in the tub. This day, she jumped in and left with a foam letter, one at a time. She only tore one apart. She put the rest on the bedroom floor.

 She loves jumping in the tub even if its empty. She also enjoys taking baths.  

She is very sweet. Since she came home, she has come a long way. She was very scared and shivered a lot the first few days, and slowly her confidence increased. Now she's a princess and full of beans! 

I must admit that its been hard raising a puppy in the deep freeze of a Canadian winter. In terms of house training, it's been decent because she doesn't want to spend much time outside. So its a good way for her to associate outside with pee pee time and not play time. 

In terms of walking on a leash outside, and becoming used to cars and loud noises...its been hard because her feet can't stand the cold ground, they start lifting, she's shivering and not wanting to walk despite being properly dressed. 

My biggest concern in this, is getting her accustomed to walking without a leash. This is very important to me, and makes long walks really pleasurable for both. So the other day, we got a really nice break, it was only zero! I found a path on Hydro Qc's property and we practiced recall and walking together. 

It was like she got to use her running legs for the first time! She did really well! She ran like lightning and kept going pretty far, which made me nervous, then suddenly she tripped and started rolling like a little snow ball. She ran all the way back to me for some tlc.

It's definitely scary to practice recall in an open area for the first little while but I know that she'll get better with time and lots of rewards! 

Next will be distractions! 

After a long day of playing, the two bff's love to snuggle. 

Thank god for Lexi, she has really helped keep Maya in line. When I say no, Lexi will come up and reinforce what I say by biting her back leg, or by bringing her a toy to distract her from whatever she has gotten into. She's been amazing!

xox

England...

The winter months bring some interesting weather in England. Their winters are still nothing compared to the winters in Canada! 

We left one afternoon to visit Nick's parents about 30 minutes away on a very clear and warm (ish) afternoon, only to be greeted by TONS of fog and frost. They live in a really cute town, where some like to get around on horses.

This little creek had the clearest water I've seen in years

The pub in the above pic was by far my fav one that we visited in Eng. It had one side designated to hikers with dirty boots and dogs, and the other side for those who were willing to take off their boots. It was very warm and inviting. 

We all headed to a town called Eyam, in Derbyshire. The town had suffered from the plague many years ago (1665). In a nutshell, they basically isolated themselves from the rest of the world, in order to contain the infection. Smart!

It is believed that the infection arrived to a tailor, in a bundle of cloth. He was dead within a week and the rest is history.

Walking along

Such a pretty town

It amazed me how people were allowed to live in certain homes here, considering how historical they were. Usually places like this become museums.

We stopped at a local church for a bit of history

This is the Boundary Stone. People from outside the town brought provisions to this stone. No one was permitted to enter or leave the town past this point. The holes in the rock were used to put the coins to pay for their goods, and they were filled with vinegar.

Reminded us of a house from the Three Little Pigs :) 

Phone booth and mailbox

We really enjoyed the food in England. At Sue and Nick's favorite pub, Wetherspoons, they offered a special night just for Curry! Curry is a very popular dish in England, so we were always able to indulge our taste buds! :) It was great!!!

We all headed to a race track dedicated to Greyhound Racing. We ate for almost nothing because we received all kinds of coupons with our entry tickets. So we were able to eat well for almost nothing, receive cheap drinks, and coupons towards our bets. I won twice! Sweet!

They had to end the race halfway through because the ground was a bit too frozen for the dogs to run on. I enjoyed the time there and was happy that they stopped the race for the sake of the dogs :) (actually it was probably for the owners investments!)

We had a WONDERFUL time, and we were happy to have experienced a lot while we were there. We are really looking forward to going back again. 

We even got used to the zombies... ;-)

Thanks to Sue and Nick!