12 weeks!

hi! up early today, p and i are heading down to whitehorse for a few days. i told him he is allowed only one day of hotel business, the rest is for play. we're gonna go to the canada games center and swim, and maybe to the hotsprings, and i want to go bowling, and see a movie if there is something good playing, and eat sushi and italian and relax! i'm pretty excited.

coming in to my second trimester now. wowzers! that went by fast. aside from this headcold, i'm feeling really good. no more nausea, my appetite is good and i've got a little more energy. "they" say the second trimester is the best one. i'm kind of looking forward to my bump, which is yet to appear. and feeling the baby move around!

so word is out in dawson town. some of the gents (i use this word very loosely) in the bar want to start a pool...not to guess the birth day or the birth weight, as would be seemly, but rather to guess how much larger my breasts will get. i told them they need a lesson in bra sizes, first. one guess was "12 pounds" and another was "10 inches". obviously they've never been too close to bras or breasts. they've got the right idea, though.

also i'm now subject to advice and scrutiny. i know she means well, but mrs. o has begun to tell me i'm getting a "spare tire" around my middle, and that soon i'll need bigger pants. thanks, love you. good thing i've got thick skin! thing is, i'm pretty sure i haven't actually put on too much weight. i've always had that little roll, she's just noticing it all of a sudden because she's expecting me to get beigger. someone else begged me to get out of the bar, that it was no place to be pregnant. she said she didn't want my baby to hear her being drunk and swearing. i told her she was just going to have to behave better! ha!

i filed my taxes a couple days ago! so proud of myself! i think it went better than last year. i did not come out owing. although last year, in the end, i got a credit. so. step one in operation buy a house is complete. as soon as i get my remittance i'm going to the bank to find out what kind of a mortgage they'll give me, and then there is actually a house i've got my eye on. it is definitely nothing special, it's had a for sale sign on it for some time now and i turned my nose up at it 6 months ago but now i just see it as having a lot of potential. we shall see!

it's windy out. it feels like a spring wind. it's pretty much march, we're in the home stretch i say! lots of sunshine, hopefully warmer weather...gonna try to get out snowshoeing a little more often. before i'm ungainly.

okay. that is all. bye!

gettin' busy

well, yesterday was pretty much a write-off. i was feeling blue, so i had popcorn for dinner and watched t.v. until i couldn't stand it anymore. then i read until i fell asleep, the light of the full moon shining through my window.

it's still cold out there, ice fog making the bright sunshine a little fuzzy. the sky looks clear and blue above that.

i only allow myself one day to wallow in blue, so today i've been pretty active. i finished the birth house early this morning, what a powerful book! it should have won canada reads, although i haven't read the one that did win. justine, you'd love this book.

so anyway, i've done all the dishes and i finally moved the school desk out of my place. it's useless and takes up space. rearranged some shelves and started a little altar for myself. this is something i've done since i was pretty young...a place where i have candles, incense, rocks, crystals and feathers, pretty cards and bits of fabric all gathered together, a place for meditating and focussing my thoughts and hopes and wishes. seemed appropriate at this time, and it's been awhile since i've conciously made one. it always gives me a sense of peace and of the divine...whatever that may be.

going to make a pot of hot n' sour soup for lunch (finally getting back to making my own soups!) and then i might split some wood. if there's anything good about this extreme cold, it's how easy it is to split birch!

read through the nutrition section of "canada's pregnancy care book" yesterday. oh my! i thought i had a somewhat balanced diet but i do not. this baby is sure changing my life in a myriad of ways! so i'll be making a revised grocery list and hope to bring a little more balance and variety into my life. i figure i'm no longer spending money on booze, so i might aswell splurge a little in the grocery department!

things i refuse to give up: laliberte's citrus yogurt. it's the thickest most delicious yogurt i've ever had, it's full fat, and i love it!

got a hankerin' for eileen's pickled beets. i might ask if she's got any more jars in her pantry...

sunday!

yay for days off! i rented a bunch of period movies today...the other boleyn girl, amadeus, and julius caesar. dinner plans include lemon basil chicken, quinoa and kale. i've only ever seen kale as a garnish at a restaurant before, but it just looked so lovely and leafy and green, so i figured why not give it a shot. i'm sure the joy of cooking will have a wonderful suggestion on how to prepare it.

i guess i've been using this first trimester as an excuse to be fairly lazy. mostly i lay about and read books and snack. rough life, hey? finished the scarlet letter last week, i really enjoyed it. and today i finished the white queen by philippa gregory. bit of a cliff hanger, that one! judging by the title of the next book, the red queen, i'm gonna guess that the yorks lose the final battle to the lancastrians. also because i know that the tudor family are the next to rise to power, and henry tudor was set to battle the york family at the end of this book. so there. next up: the birth house by ami mckay! i've been wanting to read this for a long time. i think i'm gonna love it.

i have a plan to start knitting again. i've got lots of little ends of really nice yarn, alpaca and mohair and such, but not enough to make any one substantial thing. so i think i'm going to make a blanket of knitted squares. perhaps i'll make a start while i watch movies tonight. woo hoo!

cold out again. must take cilla for a walk but i don't want to but i will. gonna walk the other way today, towards callison. thrilling. i actually miss being in town for the walks...lots more options there! up to crocus bluff, along the 9th ave trail, to the slide or at least the first lookout, along the dike, or right on the river. from where i am now, i can't quite get to the river...well i suppose i could walk out on the ponds but kim told me a story of falling through the ice, so that makes me a little nervous. there's a nice trail at rock creek, and the ridge road trail, but i hate when my walk has to start out with a drive.

more blood to be drawn tomorrow, not looking forward to that, but then it's date night with p! wish it was a bit warmer, i'd like to go snowshoeing.

okay. gonna finish my soup and then take cilla out. i've been eating way too much lipton chicken noodle. must get back into making my own soup.

9 weeks

So says the doctor and the pregnancy calculator I tried online. I'm not sure about that number, but I'll go with it.

Had blood drawn yesterday. It was an ordeal, like usual. Got one of four vials filled before I came close to passing out. So then I got moved to a bed, a different nurse gave it a shot, no luck. Finally they called in "Mr. Vampire", aka Walker. He once checked me out at the nursing station on halloween, dressed as Shrek. Anyway, he had no problem filling the remaining vials and said some nice things to me, too.

Felt like crap for the remainder of yesterday, couldn't keep my lunch down. Skipped my board meeting.

Feeling all right today, had a good walk with the dog, gonna have some soup for lunch. My goal is to start drinking more water and eating more fruits and veggies. Part of this plan involves drinking vegetable juice. Mmmm.

Oh yeah...the nursing station phones me up today to tell me that they did the prenatal blood draw too soon so I have to go back in two weeks. That kinda pissed me off. I don't think I need to have all four vials redrawn, though. I'm pretty sure some of those were to check for STD's. Still. Get it together.

The first of the Quest mushers should be pulling in to town today, that's pretty exciting. Next year I'll be bringing a little bundled baby out to watch! Crazy!

I've been taking advantage of the satellite television lately, watched back to back episodes of "A Baby Story" on TLC today. I'm such a jerk, yelling at the women to suck it up and quit being such babies. I'm sure that means I'm going to have a horrible, lengthy labour as punishment. However, watched one that was a waterbirth today and it looked really easy and gentle. I wonder if that's an option in Whitehorse?

In other news, my pants are starting to get a little snug. Geez...already!?

congratulations! your birth control failed!

i'm afraid to eat breakfast! this sucks. normally i need to eat first thing otherwise i feel sick. what to do? was reading an article on mothering.com about homeopathic remedies for morning sickness...something about ginger. maybe i could start with a cup of ginger tea, although i think this article was about aromatheraphy and essential oils. of course that's a trip to whitehorse, so i'll have to make do with what i've got at hand for now.

been thinking a lot about housing. the last few years i've been moving towards buying a place of my own. no more paying someone else's mortgage. however, there is pretty much no housing market in dawson. i looked around on a few of the usual websites and the only things for sale are like 200-400 thousands dollars, or in west dawson. and i happen to think living in west dawson is ridiculous. unless they were to build a bridge. there are still those lots available in the north end...i looked at them this summer, it's a huge patch of willows. not exactly ideal...i feel like even if i cleared it all out, the willows would eventually creep back in. however, i should ask some landscapers about that. and yeah, i could eventually do some landscaping, plant some proper trees etc. i think if i went this route i would try to buy two adjacent lots, so i could have a nice big yard. they're not terribly expensive. and the more i think about it, the more i think living in town would be the best thing with a little one. then they could walk to school or to their friend's house, and their friend's could walk to mine. not to mention my friends. it's not as though many of my friends have wheels.

so. i think on monday i'll go to the appropriate government office and ask some questions about those lots. like if i buy two lots, am i expected to build on both lots within five years? or could it be turned into one lot, with one house? and i think i would talk to some of the people who have recently purchased city lots and built houses, to find out who did the building and what the experience was like. and then on my next whitehorse trip i'm going to make an appointment at each bank and talk about mortgages. what would i be looking at, a construction loan or something?

i just feel like i want/need to make a move. it's not like the housing market is going to change. if anything housing prices are going to skyrocket. well. i think they're already pretty unreasonable. and if i build, it'll be what i want right away, no dealing with someone else's shoddy workmanship.

it's like i'm being rudely SHOVED into full-fledged adulthood. what the hell?!


in other news, i think it's funny when people "congratulate" me. "congratulations! your chosen method of birth control failed!" it's not like i did anything; i was trying to prevent this outcome! not that i'm complaining...(well, i suppose i'm complaining about this uncertain breakfast situation)...i guess it's just something people say.

guts

so. puked up my breakfast this morning. first time! well, no. actually, the first time was on the drive to the lagoon tour in puerto. i sprayed mango chunks all over the inside of the bird-man's shiny SUV door. mmmm. mango.

no way i was making it to the outhouse (kinda glad for that. i don't relish the idea of vomiting in there), so i just ejected off the side of my deck into the snow. it was still dark out, pretty mild, snow whirling around me, listening to the wind in the spruce trees. by far not the worst experience ever.

found myself wondering how long it takes for vitamins to break down and absorb. i'd taken mine maybe 15 minutes prior. maybe i'll have to start taking them with lunch instead, though i hope this doesn't become a regular occurence.

hm. been feeling pretty good, other than that little episode. getting nervous about telling c, i'll get that out of the way in the next day or two. i don't think p is going to be able to contain himself much longer, he's getting pretty excited, bubbling over with the news, so it won't be long before word gets out to the general populace. good thing i had that mexico vacation...everyone keeps telling me i'm glowing and look wonderful and healthly...yes...it's just the tan...right.