Dear Preggo Kendra the Second

Dear Preggo Momma:

Wow! 33 weeks with baby number 2! This time is different. Just read what you wrote to yourself when you were pregnant with Hunter. And remember how lucky you were. This time, well to be honest it hasn't been bad, harder than the first for sure. But when you actually sit down and compare, you've been lucky this round too, just bigger feeling. But lets start at the beginning.

After H turned 1, you and G decided that yup, maybe its time for another one. Then bam. It happened. A lot quicker than either of you guys were thinking. But here we are.

The 6 week and 12 week ultrasounds all came and went. Happy that the babe was growing healthy. With that the first trimester came to an end. This is the first time you actually threw up with a pregnancy -although only a couple times. And felt that hungover nausea feeling constantly.  Also combined with having the flu and colds (thanks winter!) made it feel real. And shitty at the same time.

With the second trimester you met a lot of back pain and hip problems. Massages and baths didn't always help and there were times you were stuck on the floor until you could muster enough energy to get up - although H thought this was fantastic.  The cravings, while nothing weird definitely hit. Baked goods and ice cream. And chocolate.

Then the 20 week ultrasound. The big gender reveal. A boy. Another one. To be honest, you weren't happy with this news.  You had your heart set on a little girl. Apparently gender disappointment is a thing too, you googled it, checked different forums, and realized (after a few tears) that another boy wouldn't be too bad. In fact it will be great to have that brotherly bond between H and little no name. Sure you still get a little sad that you won't get to have that mother-daughter relationship, but hell I can become a crazy mother in-law one day!

Now you are just under 2 months  away from giving birth. You pray its as easy as the first one...but have a feeling its going to be a complete 180. The back (and hip)  pain and exhaustion is definitely in the forefront. Sleeping is harder this round.  But the biggest difference between this pregnancy and the first one; the lack of time to relax. You have to chase a toddler around, bend down and lift him up constantly.  You also have the guilty SAHM feeling that you didn't have the first round. You feel that you should keep the house tidy and food all ready and cooked, when all you do is want to nap at the same time H is.  I know its all in the head and that G doesn't care, but ya...

This will most likely be the last time you are pregnant and you should revel in  it, but you are also so done with feeling like a mammoth and not being able to crawl on the floor and play with H.

 7 more weeks!

Love, Kendra

(now go put your feet up and have a fake beer!)

Harry Potter Birthday!

My little guy turned one just a little while ago, and I of course had to throw a spectacular birthday party for him. The theme: HARRY POTTER! I figured I'd make him have at least one of them (without argument).

The initial invite stated with a traditional (email) letter from Albus Dumbledore himself, encouraging people to dress in party attire (or muggle wear).

And from there... a party blossomed


As always, its all in the details:

Guests had to go through Platform 9 3/4 to arrive at the party. Thats my mom.

Sorting Hat Station

A friendly reminder

Various decorations - House cup colours, Time Turner, House Cup, Hedwig, Sweet pint glasses (which may or not have been ordered for other purposes than this party), Sunglasses from the Quibbler, Wine with appropriate labels)

A collection of all the treat bags!

My mom made these sweet party favour bags

Wands (also made by my mom) and Dumbledore Army's list

A better look at Ollivander's Wand Station and Golden Snitches

The monster book of Monsters, which my BFF made! This was a hit with the kids!

My Owlery - Creepy Demon Owls

A little potion book and some herbs

More herbs for potions

Professor Umbridge's Tea Corner 

The Reading Corner

Have to have the Hogwart's Crest

Photo props and Daily Prophet News Clippings

A great photo prop

Moaning Myrtle, snake leading up to the CHamber's of Secrets, and of course a warning to those Mudbloods that the chamber has been open

Free Doby! 

Photo Collage

The booze - it is a child's birthday party after all

My dad and hubby added this touch - oh yes we moved 3 days after this party!

 The Food:

   For every food item I had, I had a Harry Potter themed word to go with them.

 And another pic of my little guy:

I made his shirt with my Cricut, and thank god for bouncy castles and nice fall days!

It was a fantastic party, and despite how much work it was making sure all the detail was there (And fact checked!) it turned out great! Thanks to everyone who came out that day to celebrate little H turning ONE!

And soon there will be tutorials on how to make things like the golden snitch and the brick wall!



( I also find it ironic that I am wearing the same shirt while I write this blog post...coincidence?)

Dear Mom of a 1 Year Old

Dear Momma of a ONE year old;

You made it one year!  Give yourself a pat on the back. Or better yet, pour yourself a glass of wine.  You deserve it. You somehow managed to survive. He somehow managed to survive.

You managed to somehow get by on a lack of sleep. And not that he isn't sleeping. He is. But he still whines and whimpers at least 3 times a night, so you don't exactly get a full 6-8 hours either. On those glorious nights where he manages to sleep in its entirety,  you feel like superwoman.  You get excited when 7pm gets closer and H actually wants to go to bed, and falls asleep quickly. You revel in that time off, to have some one on one time with G.

You managed to run a household. You know that when (and if) he decides to nap. its go time. You make coffee, you shower, you eat,  you cook, you clean, you packed up your entire house, you fold laundry, and yes sometimes you nap or watch something mindless on TV. Hell you need a break too sometime.

Especially now that Hunter is walking.  He wants to explore. Climb. He has already given himself a black eye. You know he is going to be a bruiser. And you know he is going to be exhausting. Some days all you can do turn on Paw Patrol and watch him play while you sit on the couch drinking your coffee wine, waiting for G to come home.  Somedays you have no energy to think of something new and exciting to do. And that's okay.  Know that he is learning so much right now, that even a simple trip to the grocery store is mind blowing to him.

The teething. The growing pains. All suck. But the snuggles.  You sure do love the snuggles, looking down at his sweet face, knowing that you are his only comfort at that moment in time. That makes the heart swoon. It makes it worth all the crying and sleepless nights.

The hair pulling and biting- well that can fuck right off. Who knew little hands and teeth could hurt so much. And H rolling around while getting his diaper changed, you pray he is ready for potty training sooner than later, but hell, at least you've mastered changing a diaper while standing up. And you've only had shit smeared on you a couple 6 times.

And at the end of the year of maternity leave, when most mom's are heading back into the work force, you decided to say goodbye to a career (at this time) and become a SAHM.  The pressure of wanting to raise a perfect little boy, while having fun and fulfilling activities to do all day - all while trying to make friends in a brand new (small) town... is daunting. It's on your mind a lot.  But remember, sometimes Paw Patrol will be enough.

Look back at the past year with fondness. With admiration. You raised a beautiful baby boy who is now a toddler. That year went by so fast. When you were so proud that he murmured for the first time, to rolling over, to sitting up, to crawling, now to walking. Soon he will be talking, potty trained, and then going to schools, playing sports and having his first love, moving out, travelling the world.   The growing up scares you, but you also cannot wait for Hunter to grow up. To experience all that the world has to offer.

You still can't believe that a year has gone. Also, don't ever apologize for posting to many pics on instagram. Your kid is the cutest kid alive and well everyone else just has to suck it up.

Love,  K

10 days old

363 days old

Currently... September edition

Currently Reading: Starting to re-read Harry Potter, in time for H's first birthday party. 

Currently Listening To:  the sweet sounds of the ocean via the sleep sheep.

Currently Watching:   Just started getting into the show The Night Of.

Currently Eating: Just finished snacking on a coconut greek yogurt.

Currently Drinking: Pepsi. Which is weird of me, as I usually don't drink pop. 

Currently Exercise: I am sad that I just finished my last day of Orange Theory Fitness the other day. They just don't have a gym where we are moving to. I should do a post about it though, as I did enjoy it.

Currently Needing:  Some more food. I am hungry.

Currently Loving:  that fall crispness in the air

Currently Not Loving: All the packing I have left

Currently Craving: A DQ blizzard for some reason. Must be because I got coupons in the mail.

Currently Wishing For: All of H's teeth to pop out...  teething is a bitch.

Currently Grateful For: My lil' family.

Currently Smiling At:  Tobi.  He is playing with a toilet paper roll like a dweeb.

Currently Looking Forward To: The new house. Hunter's first birthday party! Not looking foward to all the packing and cleaning up though.

Painting with H - a pinterest success!

I decided to try a craft with H that I've seen on Pinterest a lot - painting with canvas.

It seemed like the perfect rainy day activity, and something different than our normal routine.


Gather the supplies:
 - a canvas
- paint colours of choice
- painters tape
- a ziploc bag
- a creative kid.

I chose a simple design, an "H" for Hunter.  Then I squirted some blobs of paint on  the canvas. When this was done I placed the canvas into the ziploc bag and managed to get paint all over my hands.

Then I let the little artist go to work:

 

All in all, I think Hunter enjoyed it. It only lasted about 5 minutes once I got the paint in the plastic bag, but that is still 5 minutes of entertainment!

Plus I think the final project turned out pretty cool, I just wished my taping skills were a bit better.

Pinterest Fail: Jello Senesory for Kids

Well. This had great promise.

I was searching pinterest for things to do with a 9 month old and this came up a lot - Mixing sugar-free jello (with some food dye) and putting some random toys in it. The ideal outcome is for your little one to have a great sensory experience.  I see the promise. I really do.

But, my kid decided to eat the jello and smear it all over him- resulting in a blue little smurf baby.

Ahh well. Time to  look into other activities for him to do.

RECIPIE: Green Thai Curry Chicken Vemicilli Soup with Bok Choy and Mushrooms

Actually I don't know what to call it- so I called it everything. But it was good and different. And has the added benefits of being very anti-inflammatory.

The inspiration came from pinterest (surprise surprise) while I was looking for things to make with bok choy (as it was super cheap at the grocery store). I came across Thai Coconut Soup with Bok Choy and Mushrooms.

Looks very pinworthy to me.

And well, I had everything that the recipe called for, but as I like to change things up I did. And as you will be able to tell I didn't really measure anything. Which is the best kind of recipe in my opinion. Add more or less of what you want.

This is what mine looked like -a little less soupy. A little less professional photos (Side note: must start taking better photos)

The Goods:
- 1tbs of Coconut Oil
- 2 Sliced Chicken Breasts
- 1 pack of Mushrooms
- A hand full of bok choy (how much depends on how much you like bok choy)
- about 1/2tsp of Turmeric
- about 1 tbs of Ginger
- about 2 tbs of Green Thai Curry (depends on how spicy you want it)
- 1 can of Coconut Milk
- About 2 cups of chicken broth (or vegetable..whatever you have on hand)
1 pack of vermicelli noodles

The How To:
1. Fry chicken in coconut oil, add ginger. It now already smells divine.
2. Add mushrooms in (as I like mine cooked)
3. Add the turmeric and green thai curry
4. Add the coconut milk and chicken broth
5. Keep stirring.
6. Add bok choy.
7. Let simmer.
8. Add vermicelli if you so desire.
9. Enjoy!

FFF- #2

And just like that we are back to Friday. And as you can tell I haven't really been to busy on the blog. Or in the gym.

I did manage to go to bootcamp on Wednesday night and enjoyed a lovely stretch session at baby yoga on Thursday morning. Other than that, I get a big fail. However, my excuse is that I may have broken my foot.  How you may ask? My dropping a freaking can of shaving cream onto the top of my foot. Yup. Not even a cool story. But it was enough to make my foot very sore and me not really want to shove my foot into a running shoe.

Weekly Weigh In: Still the same. Kinda bummed about this, but really what was I expecting? Didn't really change up the diet to much and didn't work out...


Hopefully there is more to tell next week.

Throwback Post- Book Review of The Book of Negroes by Lawrence Hill

In the sake of laziness (my baby slept for 11 hours straight last night and I being the crazy momma, could not sleep at all.... the unfainress/irony) I decided to do a throwback post today instead. And as a lot of you guys have New Years Resoltuions to read mroe, I decided to use a book review. The Book of Negroes is one of my new favorite books, so I highly recommend it.

Read: Nov. 28^th 2012

(or Someone Knows My Name if you are form the states)

There are so many great Canadian authors out there, and Lawrence Hill is one of them.  I always had this on my to-read list and finally picked it up to read because it was on my book club list and I am so glad it was. What a fantastic story. It is hard for a man to write through a women’s eye and Hill did it fantastically.  At points this book was hard to read because of the nature of the story. We as human beings are disgusting. How could we ever treat someone else like the way slaves were treated is truly something I can never understand.

This book is about Aminata Diallo’s amazing story of her life.  In 1802 she is brought before the British abolitionists to relay her story and the realists of slavery.  Like most Africans who were made into slaves, she was kidnapped from her village and forced to walk 3 months to the coast- sometime with chains around their necks.   From here she ended up in South Carolina where she is eventually sold again.  From here she began her journey to ‘freedom’ to Canada and then to London.

For me reading the part of the slave forts along the coast of Western Africa was the hardest. I’ve been to Elmina Castle in Ghana and toured around it. And seeing it first hand and seeing exactly what the ‘living’ quarters were compared to where the white man sat. Horrible. You can’t put in words the feeling you feel when standing at the point of last return (what they called the room that led them to the ship). From this point on they did not know if they would ever survive or ever return to their homeland.

I loved Hills’ description of the ship. How hundreds of slaves were forced below deck. And I loved how Aminata was a very smart and tenacious 11 year old. She somehow managed to charm the owner’s which I think helped make her stronger in order to survive the rest of her ordeal. She was a very smart women, picked up on languages quickly, and used the knowledge her mother passed on to her with being a midwife. All which helped her in her survival.

“We, the survivors of the crossing, clung to the beast that had stolen us away. Not a soul among us had wanted to board that ship, but once out on open waters, we held on for dear life. The ship became an extension of our own rotting bodies. Those who were cut from the heaving animal sank quick to their deaths, and we who remained attached wilted more slow as poison festered in our bellies and bowels. We stayed with the beast until new lands met our feet, and we stumbled down the long plants just before the poison became fatal. Perhaps here in this new land, we would keep living.”

I won’t go into detail about what happens during her life in South Carolina, you just have to pick up the book and read it. Many hardships were faced, but also happiness as she found Chekura whom she ended up marrying.   The side battles of the States, in both South Carolina and New York were beautifully written. 

The Book of Negroes,- in which the book gets its title from- is a book where when Britain surrendered the slaves who were able to prove they were working alongside the British could sign their names and thus be given a passage to a British colony. In this case the British colony was Nova Scotia.  Prior to reading this I didn't realize Canada's place in the whole slavery scheme so I douind it englighting.  Aminata was actually the person who wrote the names and description of the hopefuls. Once in Nova Scotia, there was a whole other world of fear, prejudice. While they weren’t ‘slaves’ they defiantly weren’t ‘free’.

“I concluded that no place in the world was entirely safe for an African, and that for many of us, survival depended on perpetual migration.”

Since she was kidnapped she always wanted to go back to her village in Africa and eventually her strong will leads her there. Her trip back to her village was interesting. From when they asked her exactly where it was and made her point to it on a map, and she couldn’t.   She didn’t understand the English’s way of thinking of Africa, with all its exotic animals always being placed on the maps. She did make her way at least to the slave port she left from. And in order to continue on, to live in her village she had to make a deal with the devil. She had an awakening. She remembers thinking when she was being forced to walk in a coffle (a chain of slaves) how come nobody came out to help and here she was seeing the same thing.  You ignore it because you don’t want it to happen to you.

All in all, it is a very honest written book. You don’t feel a white vs black person battle. Hill paints a very accurate description of slavery.  And you could tell that he researched the topic very carefully.  While reading it you can picture it wonderfully.  Please go read this, I highly recommend it.

5 stars.

Back Exercises

Its beginning to get to the point where I am starting to feel the motivation to get back to my pre-baby weight. I wanted to start off with something easy, and my back has been sore lately (picking up a babe isn't always easy)

I just did all of them and they are all simple enough, but I did feel something working! Hopefully this will help the sore back. Remember to breathe properly!

Original source: fitsugar.com  (the photos are from there as well)

Upper Back Lifts:

Targeting key muscles with upper back lifts helps to strengthen your back while improving your posture:

• Lay your belly on the ball and spread your legs wide and plant your toes on the floor.
• Bend your elbows and gently touch your fingertips to the back of your head. Keep your arms strong and resist the urge to rest your hands on your head.
• Take a breath in and, as you exhale, raise your upper torso as much as you can, so your chest comes off the ball. Inhale to slowly lower your torso back to the starting position. Keeping your movements slow allows you to work your abs.
• Complete three sets of 12 to 15 reps.

Superman Booty Lift

• Lie on your belly and hold an exercise ball between your feet.
• As you inhale, squeeze the ball and lift your knees, arms, and chest off the floor. Hold for a count of 10 and then slowly release your body back to the floor.
• Repeat for a total of 10 lifts.

Side Bend With Ball

Lengthen and tone your sides and back with side bends with a stability ball:

• Hold a gym ball firmly between your palms, right in front of your belly.
• Stand firmly, with your feet hips-width distance apart. Tuck your tailbone in and engage your abs to protect your lower back.
• Raise the ball above your head and straighten your arms completely. Then slowly lean your hands over to the right side, but continue to keep both feet planted equally.
• Try to draw your upper ribs back so they're stacked on top of your lower ribs. Pull your belly button in towards your spine and look up towards the ceiling if you can.
• Bend as much as you feel comfortable and hold for five complete breaths.
• When you're ready, while keeping your lower body strong and stable, lift your torso back up. Stay in a neutral standing position for one complete breath, and then arch over and do the left side.
• Repeat each side five more times.

Opposite Limb Extensions

• 

  
  

  • Lay your belly on a ball. Stabilize yourself by placing your hands underneath your shoulders, and your feet hip distance apart.
  • Simultaneously lift your right arm and your left leg straight out. Hold for two seconds and then release back to the ground.
  • Now lift your left arm and your right leg. Hold for two seconds and slowly release.
  • Try to move slowly and with control in order to keep the ball as steady as possible. Use your deep abs to help stabilize.
  • Repeat this move for a total of 15 to 20 reps on each side.

Back Extensions

Fight the bulge on your lower back with simple back extensions:

• Kneel down with an exercise ball in front of you. Place your torso on the ball and roll forward until you have both hands on the floor. Your legs should be straight behind you, toes anchored firmly on the floor about shoulder-width apart.
• Lower your torso down with your hands behind your head — your upper body should basically be wrapped around the ball.
• Lift your torso up until you form a straight line with your hips and legs. 
Lower back down to complete one rep. Be sure to inhale as you come down and exhale as you lift your torso up.
• Do three sets of 12 reps.

Christmas in the Kitchen

Christmas in the Kitchen by justaddchampagne featuring cookie cutters


I was browsing online on the Crate and Barrel website and I came across all of these fantastic items. They would be perfect to add a little christmas cheer into the kitchen without being overbearing.