Barefoot, pregnant, and washing dishes by hand.

   Could this statement get any more cliche? But that is exactly what I was doing last night before I went to bed. Why was I doing this? Well, since our dishwasher broke yesterday I had to wash up a day's (and a half) of dishes by hand. I know, there are millions of people out there who never even had a dishwasher to begin with, and here I am complaining about doing something that they have to do every day. It's not even that I hate washing dishes by hand. It's all about timing! This "wonderful" dishwasher surprise comes only a bit over a week after Daddy crashed his truck. And on top of it half of my oven broke too. How is that possible to have only half of an oven. Well, my top heating element is not working now, so I am running my oven on bottom heating element only. My last bread came out too brown on the bottom and not browned on top. Plus it wasn't baked in the middle.And all of this only few weeks before Monkey In-Waiting is supposed to arrive. The timing is just really off!

Money-Wise Mondays - chicken times 3!

   When you have a big family, saving money is very important. It's also very challenging when you want to feed your family healthy food. I like organic, free-range chickens for their nutrition and what it doesn't have. Organic chickens don't have antibiotics and they are not fed with pesticide-laden feeds. I don't want these things in my food. It is especially important since animals ingest large amounts of feed over their life span and pesticides can accumulate in their bodies. That can mean that we are also eating pesticides through our meat.

Sunday Snapshots - exciting things!

   Happy Sunday to everyone. Hope your Sunday was filled with fun and excitement. Two exciting  things happened today. The first was that we finally got the infant car seat. Grandma and Gramps and Great Grandma have bought it for us as a gift to Monkey In-Waiting. So we finally have a car seat to drive the baby around in our car. The second exciting thing was our trip to a pumpkin patch. Our Monkeys were very excited to finally be able to go and pick out their pumpkins. Here are some pictures for you to enjoy. And don't forget to check out Money-Wise Mondays tomorrow.

New Car seat for our Baby Boy!

* FOOD PORN!*

   Let me be the first one that admits that I am a big time foodie. A foodie, you know someone who is passionate about great food. I love gourmet ingredients put together skillfully into masterpieces to be savored and enjoyed. And looking on the internet and bookstores and gourmet grocery stores makes me believe that I am not the only one. Cookbooks top the charts of national best-sellers and food blogs are so successful that they make their owners into celebrities. Customers pay huge bucks for fancy salt or 2 truffles imported from this country or that. Let's face it, our society is obsessed with food. But on the other hand our society also chastises food obsessions. This creates a conflict where people want to talk and read and post about food, but they don't want to be seen as constantly thinking about food for the fear of having others criticize them. Enter "but it's OK, because it's healthy" trend.

Lessons from Nursery Rhymes.

   Everything can be an opportunity to teach a life lesson when you are a parent. Sometimes the lessons come from child's action, sometimes from behavior of others. Sometimes life lessons will emerge from something someone else said, and sometimes yet there is a natural lesson in a story. But other times a lesson can be taken from a Nursery Rhyme for little kids. To tell the truth, many Nursery Rhymes are full of life lessons, and that's why many parents are eager to tech them to their youngsters.

   There are many nursery rhymes that teach lessons. Humpty Dumpty is a great poem about how much harder it is to put together something that was broken, so our kids should take care of their special things. Another great one is Georgie Porgie, a rhyme about a boy who was brave enough to bother little girls but wasn't brave to bother boys. It provides a great lesson about how cowardly bullies are. Little Boy Blue is another one of my favorites, and it's a really good one to spark a conversation about responsibilities.

The colours of the fall.

   The last couple of days have been so very hectic in our house. With Monkey In-Waiting due very soon there are so many things to still finish and very little time remaining. Plus I felt like everything I touched fell apart. Yesterday, we finally bought the mattress for Little Monkey's bed only to arrive home, open the package, and discover that it was not the right kind of mattress. I have been planning on getting him latex mattress, since we all have switched to latex mattresses, but when we got home we discovered that we picked up a spring mattress instead. So now we have to drive all the way back to the store this week and exchange it.
   On top of it all, we have fallen few days behind in schoolwork, and need to catch up. I really dislike falling behind in anything, but even more so since this baby can arrive as soon as 2 weeks from now! I would really like to finish this semester before this baby monkey arrives. And I have to still make the Halloween costumes for all the monkeys. And I am so very tired all the time now.
   But the weather has been very lovely the last couple of days and me and the boys got a chance to enjoy some of the beautiful colors of fall while Girly Monkey was in dance class. So while I am throwing myself a "pity party" for all the things that I don't have time to do, you can enjoy the beautiful pictures of fall colors.

My heart's soulmate.

   I am thanking the lucky stars every day for my husband. As I look around us I realize how blessed we are to have found each other. I know more and more couples that didn't make it, single parents, bitter ex's, hurt lovers. These are people that made vows to each other to stick it out through better or worse, in good time and in bad, and eventually they gave up. Not to be selfish and use their unhappiness as a lessons for me to learn through, but I want to say thank you to all of them for making me realize that everyday with my husband is something to be cherished, everyday we are married is a day to be proud of.

   Daddy and I met over 14 years ago, at a night club. It was really a chanced meeting that turned out to be the best thing that happened to me. I was invited to come to my male friend's birthday at the club. At the time I was hoping that this friendship would turn out to be more. I brought my best friend and we decided that no matter what we would enjoy ourselves. As many times before, that male friend blew me off to go and meet other girls, so I decided to forget that I was there for his birthday, and do what my friends and I did best, dance on the dance floor the whole night. I loved dancing in those days, and I never went to night clubs to socialize or meet new people but only to get a chance to dance. I had couple of good girlfriends that liked to do the same thing. So that night we put all of our purses on the table next to the dance floor and we started dancing.

Money-Wise Mondays - Sourdough starter for home made bread.

   Last week I wrote about making home made bread. Home-made bread is so convenient and cheap to make, plus you'll always know what ingredients went into it. Another benefit to making bread the no-knead method is that the flours and grains used in it have time to soak. So what is the big deal with soaking grains? There is some evidence that soaking grains is better for digestion, neutralizes phytic acid and enzyme inhibitors, and improves nutrient bio-availability. Over the years, as people have learned that refined flours are not good for their health, they started switching to whole grains. But many of them found that as they did so they have encountered more digestive issues, and are still not getting the required nutrition they thought that they would from eating whole-grains in their diet. Some, mistakenly infer from that that they must be intolerant to grains all together and start avoiding them in their diets. But many fail to understand that not only what you eat, but also how you prepare it, that has an impact on how that food is utilized by the body. For example, some new research suggests that steaming certain vegetables makes them more beneficial to our health. Milk is also better for you when fermented as the fermentation helps to break down tough milk proteins and provides our guts with beneficial bacteria. Some foods need to be "processed" to be easier on our digestive tracts.

Sunday Snapshots - another cake!

   Hello to all my readers. I hope that everyone had a wonderful day of rest and got a chance to do something relaxing for themselves. We had a busy day as always (I can't remember last time that days were not busy!). We started with Girly Monkey's soccer game and then we drove around a bit to see if we could find a new truck for Daddy. No luck though, so he can't do his work tomorrow. I then finished the cake and we drove over to Grandma and Gramps' place to share the Birthday cake with them. It's always great going over to their place since Monkeys LOVE spending time with their grandparents. Have I said how great it is that Daddy's parents are so involved in Monkeys' lives? Well, it's great!
   Don't forget to come back tomorrow for Money-Wise Mondays!

Another foggy morning

This is another cake for Girly Monkey. This time she
wanted a peacock.

She has had 3 6th birthdays now. Does that mean that she is 18?

A new distraction!

   Sometimes I wonder if we are just little pawns in someone's game. It always seem like just when we can bear no more then something else happens. Distractions seem to interfere with my plans all the time. Take today for instance. I had great plans for what I could get out of today. Since Saturdays are very busy already I didn't have great plans but little ones just to get me a bit further on my to-do list. We are having another cake for Girly Monkey tomorrow with Daddy's family (they couldn't make it last weekend since they were all away). So I planned to get all the Monkeys to all their activities and then come home and bake a cake for tomorrow and go through some of the baby clothes. I really have to get on that since I am now 34 weeks. I still don't know what I have and what I need.

   The morning started in a very ordinary way. We ate breakfast, got ready for Funky Monkey's dance class, and left. Daddy went to soccer and I took Funky Monkey and the other 2 Monkeys to dance class (only Funky Monkey has class in the morning but all 3 have to come with me). I dropped off Funky Monkey at the class and parked the car. Another mom just dropped off her son and we started talking about the fog and being busy and loosing track of time. Suddenly, I got a phone call from Daddy. It's very unusual to hear from him at this time since he should be on his way to soccer (he is a head coach of Funky Monkey's team). I answered that call thinking that he simply forgot something. But that was not the case. It turned out that he was in an accident. He run a red light and hit someone in another truck. The first thought through my mind was if he was OK. He said that he was fine. So I immediately thought of the other car. Daddy drives a big, cube van and if he was to run into someone then the chances were that the other person was not so lucky. Thankfully the other guy was fine too, since Daddy swerved in the last second hitting the other guys' bumper and not his driver side door.

Halloween preparations.

   I love sunny, fall days. But there is something about these foggy, cooler days that is very nice too. It makes me want to grab a cup of hot chocolate, curl up on the couch under a blanket and read a good book.

The fog rolled in yesterday while we were at soccer practice. Within 15 minutes it looked like all the girls were playing in milk-stained air. And it got cold very quickly. It got so cold that coach (aka Daddy), moved all the girls to indoor gym for the remainder of practice.

Pregnancy Q&A - part 3.

   Today I would like to answer final list of questions that many pregnant women may have. I hope you find this informative.

Q - What do contractions feel like?
A - Oh, the age old question. All first time moms want to know what it feels like. If you have had a child before you know exactly what these little buggers feel like, but describing them to someone else is very difficult. First of all, let's talk about the different kinds of contractions, namely Braxton Hicks contractions and real labor contractions. Braxton Hicks contractions are "practice" contractions that help your body prepare for labor. If you are first time mom you might start feeling them somewhere between the end of second trimester and late third trimester. If you had children before then they will come much earlier. This time around I started getting them around 13 weeks! They only came sporadically, but I was a little concerned how early they started. So what do they feel like? The best way that I can describe them is that they feel kind of like having pulled a stomach muscle. The stomach gets tight and you can mostly feel them at the top of your uterus. They are not painful and generally you don't need to stop doing anything while they are happening. They will get a bit more frequent and more intense as your pregnancy progresses.

Pregnancy Q&A - part 2

Yesterday, I have talked about some basic questions that newly pregnant women might have. Let's continue this with more questions and answers that may be helpful.

Q - I have read that now that I am pregnant things like coffee, sushi, soft cheeses and deli meats are off limits for me. Is that true?
A - All moms want the best for their unborn child. This is why it's so easy to go overboard and worry yourself to death over things that are very unlikely to happen. There are numerous medical professionals and websites that provide a list of "do not eat while pregnant" items. With Funky Monkey I followed the list with diligence that can only be assigned to a first time mom. No soft cheeses, no deli meats, forget even a sniff of coffee, and no matter how big my headache was I refused to take a Tylenol. I was not the only "better safe than sorry" mom. As a matter of fact you are very unlikely to see first time moms in the line-up at Starbucks, or your deli counter. The issue is that there is really very small risk in having any of these things. Coffee is fine in moderation!  Women in Japan eat raw fish even during pregnancy, and I highly doubt that French moms-to-be avoid cheeses like Brie during pregnancy. I would be more concerned with pesticide residuals on my conventional veggies than small risk of being sick from deli meats ( then again, why would you want to eat most deli meats? Most of them taste horrible and are cooked in plastic bags). So in my other pregnancies I relaxed a bit and enjoyed the occasional cup of coffee, or a slice of Camembert cheese without feeling guilty. There are risks in everything we do, so just be aware that eating salad can make you sick too.

Pregnancy Q&A - part 1

   Before I was pregnant with Funky Monkey I had no clue about anything "pregnancy", except for what I had seen on TV. From big Hollywood blockbusters that misinform to some "documentaries" that misrepresent what the real pregnancy, labor and delivery are like, I have conjured up an image of what pregnancy would be like. Boy, was I wrong!
  Here are short questions and answers to the most common pregnancy concerns taken from real life.

Q - I think I might be pregnant, now what.
A - Unlike in the movies, you don't need to rush in to your doctors to confirm early pregnancy. Home pregnancy test are more sensitive than the doctor's office ones (First Response home pregnancy test will test positive at pregnancy hormone levels of just 6.5 mlU/ml - thousandths of an international Unit per milliliter, whereas most doctors levels will not test positive until 75 to 100 mlU/ml). That means that the home pregnancy test will show up positive many days prior to the one from doctor's office. When I was pregnant with Funky Monkey I rushed to confirm my positive home pregnancy test at the doctor's office. I was already 2 days past when my cycle was supposed to start, so I wasn't super early. To my dismay, the doctor informed me that my test was inconclusive and I had to return in few days. Eventually, the urine test at the doctor's office confirmed what I had known for days. With Girly Monkey I knew that the pregnancy tests done at home were more accurate so when I went to the doctor and they told me that the test was negative I asked for a beta hCG test (blood test) to confirm pregnancy. Blood tests have an advantage over urine test because hCG (the pregnancy hormone) gets secreted into blood few days before being secreted into urine. Now there are 2 kinds of beta tests, quantitative and qualitative. Qualitative test has a threshold that you have to reach before it will come back as a "Yes" or "no" answer. Quantitative test will check the actual level of pregnancy hormone in your system. Anything over 5 is considered to be pregnant.

Money-Wise Monday - home baked bread.

   Few years back I became very conscious of reading labels on the food that I bought. The more I read the more I disliked what I was learning. For ages I have been buying store-bought bread (you know, the one packed in plastic bags with words like Healthy, Whole grain, and Nutri-something or other) and never once looked at the ingredients list on the package. When Girly Monkey was born and we found out that she had a dairy allergy, I became very diligent about reading the ingredient lists and seeing for myself what we were eating. To my shock, bread was no longer made with flour, salt, and water (maybe yeast sometimes or butter and eggs for breads like Challah). Now the ingredient list read like something from a science class at the local high school.

Sunday Snapshots - Thanksgiving.

   Happy Canadian Thanksgiving to my Canadian viewers. I hope that you either had a wonderful dinner with family or are having one tomorrow. This year we couldn't join Daddy's family for the annual Thanksgiving trip since it's about 4 hour drive from home. I am just too far along in my pregnancy to be that far away from my midwives in case something happens. But we did manage to have a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner with my sister, my cousin and their significant others. It was a lovely dinner with the best of company. I also squeezed in Girly Monkey's birthday cake as a desert. So it was a double dinner: Thanksgiving / Birthday celebration. Here are some pictures from our wonderful dinner. Remember to check out Money-Wise Monday tomorrow.

Lovely company over for dinner

Girly Monkey with Aunty

Girly Monkey's cake

Enjoying dinner with family.

Little Monkey with Aunty.

Funky Monkey with Aunty.