22 Weeks 4 days

The Insider is moving around a bit in there. For a while I was feeling it mostly in the morning around 10/10:30, but this week it's been completely unreliable and all over the place. Once I was able to feel it from the outside by pressing down pretty firmly on my belly, but the movements are so random and spastic that it is next to impossible to predict when SB should give it a shot. Soon, hopefully.

Decided to post a "Belly Photo". It would be awesome if I didn't have that extra back and arm fat, but what are you gonna do, right? Actually, I was on a message board the other day and one of the posts was called "No one told me my arms would get pregnant too" - I laughed out loud.

Yoga should help, though. Or at least I hope so. I've been to four classes so far, and am loving it. Going to shoot for at least two classes per week. Not only is the class itself fun, but most of the women there are pretty cool, too.

I still feel great, which is a bonus. Most of the women in my class have loads of back pain, carpal tunnel, lots of acid reflux, but I've been off the hook so far. I'm sure it will come, but each week that passes that I feel good, I'm thankful.

The only annoyance this week has been a weird sleep pattern. I get exhausted around 4pm, and stay that way until bedtime, then I can't fall asleep. And when I finally do fall asleep, I wake up every hour or two for no reason - don't have to pee, no pains, nothing, just wide awake. Very aggravating, especially since I'm trying to store up my rest reserves until the Insider makes an appearance.

21 Weeks, 4 days - Girl"ish"

Big week here, big big week.

First of all, finally got to my prenatal yoga class. Last Saturday's attempt was a disaster wherein I forgot to bring the exact address of the studio with me, walked right past it, continued on for 20 minutes, then upon doubling back I realized I had parked about 1 minute away from it.

However, I got my act together and made it to class last night and it was awesome. We did some postures that we relaxing and then some other flows and postures that were actually pretty challenging fitness-wise. I was sweating and out of breath a few points, so was all in all impressed. They have class three times a week, with three different teachers, but I'm only available regularly for two of them. We'll see if the other teachers measure up!

Also, we had our ultrasound yesterday. The technician was very helpful when she said "Looks like it could be a girl." Duh. It could be for sure. but IS IT???? She left the room for a few minutes and we asked her to look again. At first she seemed offended that we didn't believe her, but when we said it was more the way she stated it than anything she assured us that if she had any doubts she wouldn't have said anything at all. I'm still not 100% convinced, but am going with "girl" for now...tentatively.

20 weeks, 4 days

Vacation was great! Little did we know that our wee mountain dog is actually a water dog at heart:
Her very favorite thing was running along the beach and exploring the giant piles of seaweed. And while she did hop in the water regularly, I think that she would enjoy it even more if it was a bit warmer!

While on vacation, I passed the 19 week and 20 week mark. Allegedly The Insider is the size of a small cantaloupe now. Also, within one day, my belly went from looking fat to looking round, as per my mother who said "Wow, you really popped overnight!".


The last few days I've been feeling a few what they call "flutters" - basically feels like gas bubbles without the gas. In one week, we have our anatomy scan ultrasound, which means we will know if we're having a boy or girl baby.

Tomorrow, I'm going to try my hand at a prenatal yoga class. I feel blobby and gross since I can't go running, and walking just doesn't do it for me. So I figured at least if I get some stretching and muscle strengthening happening it may help me feel better. Plus I'm sure a little flexibility won't hurt to help during labor. I'm going to check out Studio Bliss since one of our ex-clients is an instructor there. She won't be the teacher tomorrow, but I figure she is a very sweet woman, and if she works there it must be a pretty okay place. I'll let you know how it goes, so long as the exertion doesn't kill me.

Things that just keep dragging on

1. Venue booking - we are still negotiating because SB is so thorough. Thorough is not efficient. Thorough takes a very very long time and gives me panic attacks that he has pissed someone off. In the long run, thorough will most likely be the smartest way to go about things, but it is the most damaging to my mental health.

2. Photographer booking - see above, except they are keen and prompt to respond, so we are stopping by to sign everything and make our deposit tomorrow.

3. Changing a contract for my work clients. We have significantly changed one clause out of two contracts, and changed the format and some of the wording on both. However it has taken us approximately 100 years to do this. Or two weeks. I think I am so impatient because I did the initial write up in English, and have been waiting for SB to translate it to French, and tweak it. I am so glad I didn't have to try to translate, and even more thankful we didn't have to pay someone else to do it, but holy mack I want to send this thing out and forget about it.

4. 90 minute hot yoga classes. When you have had two coffees, a diet Pepsi and about 3 Tbsp of water all day. Holy eff I was dehydrated! I'm such a moron. But, at least I went, something is better than nothing :)

5. My Bell cell phone contract. We have been counting the days until May 24 2009 since June 3 2006, because that is when our contract is done and we will be done with these morons. But, wouldn't you know it my Blackberry from 1957 is slowly deteriorating (it now hangs up on people randomly! Awesome! So professional!), so we may be cancelling early anyway and switching so I can get a new phone. It turns out it isn't as expensive to cancel as I had imagined, PLUS the rate plans at the other company will save us about $100 a month. Sweet.

Snapshots from my week

1. I am in love with HGTV and the Food Network. I have always loved watching them like on a Sunday or something, but lately I've even been watching in primetime. I can't get enough Flipping Out, Location Location, Relocation Relocation, Kitchen Nightmares, Restaurant Makeover etc. I wish there was a live feed of Jeff Lewis's life. I wish I could be best friends with Kirstie Allsop, that crazy Brit from the Location Location show. If I could marry one of the HGTV guys, it would be Igor from Restaurant Makeover - he can fix everything and cracks me up.

2. Thinking about going back to Bikram classes - they opened a new studio down the street, so it's much more convenient, plus I have been running and am in better shape to start out so can kinda jump in (hopefully) with less recovery time between classes. I love the way that Bikram changed my body the last time I was a "regular", but even more I loved the way it improved my mood, which is something I could use these days.

3. I think my neighbor is conducting kick boxing classes in the condo above us. I hear what sounds like banging and hopping around all day long. Dude, the floors between us are concrete - what are you doing that makes me able to hear you? and why are you doing it every day?

Cuba in one week - WooHooo!!!!

So, ya, one week til vacation. I was kinda not thinking about vacation a lot, and wasn't really excited cause I never thought about it. But the last two weeks have been crazy burning hell. So now I'm VERY excited that next week is vacation. Very.

Charlie is still not showing signs of rabies since his showdown with the squirrel last week. Hard to tell since the vet said to watch for "A weird smell from the bite site" (his mouth - which always reeks) and "aggressive behavior". Hello, this dog has bit me at least five separate times. Anyway, so far no paralysis, and no foaming from the mouth. Awesome.

We've taken on like five million new clients in the last two weeks! Actually, probably like five new dogs, but whatever, I feel like I'm always running around town meeting them. I think that this sudden rush has been spurned by the ungodly frigid weather we've had lately and the fact that no one actually wants to be outside except for dogs. I hope they stay on through the spring and summer.

I went to yoga the other night for the first time with Nazi yoga guy (I have been avoiding him and taking classes with the other instructors instead). It was sooooooo hard. I'm pretty sure he pumps the heat higher than he's supposed to. Anyway, I thought I was going to die. But I didn't. I'm pretty sure I'll be ready for yoga again tomorrow. With one of the normal instructors.

Back to Bikram

Yesterday I took my first Bikram yoga class in about three weeks. I haven't had the cash to re-up my membership, so I haven't been able to go.

It was really hard!

I could only do about half of the standing poses (I did each one for one set, since you hold each posture twice) - I felt like I was ready to pass out at some points, but fought through it as best as I could. Ugh. Even though I drank tons of water yesterday, which usually helps me get through the tough bits, I was still trying to put as much effort into the postures as I did when I was at the end of a month of yoga. But my body is so not where it was a month ago! My muscles are tight and resistant, and my joint are all creaky. So, the class was tough, and today I hurt hurt hurt. But, I know that it only gets better, and I still felt really great last night after class. It gives me lots of great energy, and totally clears my mind of stress and things that make me grrrrrr.

On the weekend we weren't able to go to a Halloween party in the country because of some work schedule issues, so I decided to get SB his birthday gift. Long story, but I had bought him a weekend rental for a motorbike (his birthday is in June), but we never had time to use it, so we ended up getting a refund, and he never got a gift. So, Thursday I spent the whole afternoon bidding on eBay and came out of it with some FABULOUS tickets for the hockey game on Saturday night against Toronto. We had such a fantastic time, had a few beers, and the seats were really fabulous. The game went into overtime, then penalty shots, and the Canadiens ended up losing (so sad), but it was very exciting and we couldn't have asked for a better game to see.

Fun with pets

I've been doing the yoga for about a month now. I can't say enough about how much I love doing this yoga. It's always challenging, but there is always something that happens - I can get into a pose a little further, I can hold one a little longer, one that killed me yesterday is easier today - that makes the class amazing, and I always feel like I'm high when I leave there.

One thing I am hating/loving about yoga - I have not lost any weight. Well, maybe like five pounds or something, but nothing major considering four or five weeks of work. However, I'm pretty sure I've put on some muscle, and I'm also pretty sure I have lost some inches on my thighs. Now I am kicking myself that I didn't take all my measurements from the beginning, because to me results, of any kind, are very motivating.

In other news, I picked up some cheapo kids Halloween costumes at the grocery store today. I plan on dressing up some work doggies and putting their photos on the website, but of course we needed to do a test run, which involved putting my animals in said costumes and laughing my ass off. I will post photos when I have uploaded them so that you may also laugh your ass off.

Ha Ha Ha - the joke's on them!

I got the best news in the mail today!!! Are you ready for this?

There is FINALLY a Domino's pizza in my neighborhood!!!

Okay, so maybe it's not so exciting to some people, but we have been living here for four years, and whenever I feel like Domino's we have to drive 20 minutes, because we don't live in Dominoville and they don't deliver here. And there is something about domino's that makes me crave it - and it's naughty cheesy bread. I will be ordering a medium vegetarian tonight. And some naughty cheesy bread.

In other news, I may have a fun surprise for my fellow yoga enthusiasts this afternoon. I must admit, I only thought of it after ingesting my entire lunch, but it's probably not such a good idea to eat a bean and cheese burrito three hours before class. Ya, sorry about that Maria.

Hallelujah

I have some fantastic news everyone!!! My iBook is now officially wireless! We've been putting off buying a wireless card since buying the business, and then I finally got one last week but experienced a few *complications* during set-up, but I'm finally up and running! I'm so happy, cause this means that all my hours of TV watching can now be multi-tasking time again instead of just vegging. It also means that I can write my blog entries where I feel most comfortable, on my sofa, instead of in the stupid office. Yay!

So, last week was pretty uneventful, except for one day in which some HORRIBLE things happened to me.

First of all, I went to my yoga class, and it was the last day of my period and I felt terrible. I could barely do any of the standing postures, which happened when I first started classes, so I thought maybe I had just skipped too many days. But then, I could barely do any of the floor postures because I felt like puking, which has NEVER happened before. I was very discouraged, and sad, but the good news is I went back two days later and was able to do every posture, which I've only done three times.

Also, one of my favorite doggies got a little crazy at the dog park, and ran smack into my shin with his skull. I have a giant bruise and for three days felt like I had shin splints or a hairline fracture. Fine now, although it's pretty ugly to look at.

And last but not least, I got a bug stuck in my ear. Ew. A tiny black fly, and I heard it buzz in there and tried to pop it out, but think I just smooshed it. When I finally got home at 3 I used a Qtip to extract the body, and lots of bloodiness (I'm assuming from the body, because I didn't have any scabbing or anything). I felt like my ear was still feeling weird, so around bedtime I Qtipped again and found MORE of the body. AAAAACCCCCHHHHHHH. But then it was all gone. I think I'll start walking with ear muffs.

What have I been up to?

Wow, so it's been a week.

This week, I have been doing the yoga. Anyone who knows me knows I'm not at all the granola-eating, center-finding, chakra-clearing type and that exercise for me has nothing to do with balancing myself or getting in touch with my center. I want to lose my booty. That's it.

However, I have found the perfect yoga for me. Well, almost.

I go to Bikram yoga, which is not at all a "flow" yoga. You hold each of 26 postures for set times (usually it feels like an eternity, but is probably a minute or two), and do two sets for each posture. I feel like it's a fun alternative to doing weight training, and that it not only gets me all stretchy and bendy, but strong too. The class is 90 minutes.

Oh, and the room is heated to 42 degrees celsius.

What?

This is not yoga for pretty girls (or boys). You can't go for tea straight from the studio. I sweat off like a billion tons every class. Okay, maybe not a billion tons, but I go right after work, so I haven't had the chance to weigh myself before, then after to see how much water I lose. No one is prissy. No one judges. Everyone is there for themselves, and to improve, and to work hard and it's awesome.

I'm still not able to make it through all of the standing postures (about half of the class) without taking a break. I get really dizzy and lightheaded, and am hoping that as my body gets stronger I'll be able to last longer. But my body feels good, and I feel amazing after each class.

So that's what I've been up to.