ren_c_h's Journal

Tagged
Type only 1 word - it's harder than you think!

1) Where is your cell phone? Purse
2) Your significant other - Funny
3) Your hair - Posh
4) Your mother - Intuitive
5) Your father - Smart
6) Your favorite thing - Walks
7) Your dream last night - NIL
8) Your favorite drink - Caesars
9) Your dream/or goal - Happiness
10) The room you're in - Office
11) Your fear - Rats
12) Where do you want to be in 6 years? Home
13) Where were you last night? Home
14) What you're not? Mean
15) Muffins? Blueberry
16) One of your wish list items - Pearls
17) Where you grew up? Toronto
18) The last thing you did? Snacked
19) What are you wearing? Clothes
20) Your TV? Panasonic
21) Your computer? Old
22) Your life? Good
23) Your pet? None
24) Your mood? Restless
25) Missing someone? Kids
26) Your car? Honda
27) Something your not wearing? Coat
28) Favorite store? Clothing
29) Your summer? Fantastic
30) Your favorite color? Blue
31) When is the last time you laughed? Earlier
32) Last time you cried? September

Clean it like you mean it!
And I meant it! I've spent a good part of my morning cleaning today. I'm talking deep down, scrubbing clean. All the bathrooms are spotless. I plan on tackling the kitchen this afternoon. Funny I never had the "nesting instinct" that many women experience during pregnancy but everytime we have guests over (guests that we don't see on a regular basis) I have the need to make sure the house is clean. Super clean.

Bob it like Beckham!
Victoria Beckham that is! Well not exactly. I got a new and different haircut this weekend. Originally I wanted to get the "Posh" bob where the back is significantly shorter than the sides. Then I chickened out. I just couldn't bear to cut the back that short nor did I want so many layers everywhere. In the end, I got a toned down version of the Posh bob. The sides are just a bit longer than the back and there is only a bit of layering going on. Come too think of it, it's more like Geri Halliwell's hair when she did the video for "It's Raining Men". Now please, please don't think I'm some kind of Spice Girls fan because I'm not but it's the best way to describe my new hair:)
I also got a new red lipstick (MAC of course) to go with the new hair. I have not had a bob nor have I worn red lipstick since the mid 1990's. An entire decade ago. Hmmmmmm, could skinny jeans be next on my list of purchases. Not!

Sephora Euphora
I strolled into Sephora on Saturday (Eaton Centre location). It's been a while since I shopped for beauty supplies since I rarely get time to do it properly and leisurely as I like to take my time sorting through all brands and colours. I'm a sucker for pretty packaging:) Hubby took Aaron to the nearby Canadian Tire and I had Lucas with me. With just a bottle of cranberry juice, he was quiet for a while which allowed me to browse. In the end, I only bought a Sephora brand lipstick which is odd for me as I've exclusively used MAC lipstick since highschool. I chose No. 59 - a pale, cool, glossy pink. It's got a bit of a strawberryish flavour to it. Not bad but I wish it were slightly more pigmented. It reminds me of Lovelorn by MAC but I must say MAC is better. As I walked out, a young girl handed me 2 perfume samples - Juicy Couture and Two Peony by Stella McCartney. Sweet!

*Flashback* November 2000 - Madison Avenue, New York - first time visiting a Sephora store. I was in there for at least an hour! I don't remember what I bought but I do remember giddily checking out everything while my now husband looked on patiently and I didn't have to give him cranberry juice to do so:)

Possible dumb home heating question...
Hubby and I are debating over this - to conserve heating costs, is it more economical to open the vents in the basement or close them? Our basment is unfinished and so we are rarely down there. We kept the vents closed when we had the air conditioner on because there is no point in cooling an already cool basement but now that Fall is here and we have the heat on, should we open the vents or keep them closed? Advice please!

Eczema Update Part 5
It's not oatmeal! Per our pediatrician's suggestion, we reintroduced oatmeal to Aaron and he was fine with it. No flare up. In fact he has not had a bad flare up recently. He still gets patches here and there but his skin is much better than it was. I think it was something he needed to outgrow. Maybe it was also due to not having air conditioning at the start of summer. Who knows? I've been slathering lots of thick lotion and vaseline on his body after every bath and it seems to do the trick. What a relief - for Aaron and me!

Other than oatmeal, we've also started Aaron on fruits in this order: pear, banana, apple & peaches. We also gave him corn. Aaron loved everything and was allergic to nothing. Yay!

The grass is not always greener on the other side
We have grass! They laid the grass in both the front and back yard last week. It's nice to finally be able to go to our yard. Our lawn is lush and green. The neighbours in front of us - not so green. Their grass is dying. It's not their fault really because while the builder did send out a letter advising all residents to water their lawn everyday for 10 days, they forgot to mention that the grass needed watering within the first few hours of it being laid. This is why our neighbour has dying grass. This is also why there is a patch in our front lawn that does not look too healthy either. You see, they did our backyard in the late afternoon so hubby watered it as soon as he came home. The grass in the front was done a few days later early in the morning. Again, we were never told that it needed to be watered asap so by the time N watered it, it was in the process of yellowing in certain patches. We're hoping that it will be revived since it is not all "dead". We've been faithfully watering every night. Fingers crossed that the front yard will look as good as the backyard.

Dinner's ready!
I've unleashed my inner chef. For the longest time, I've fallen into a rut as to what to make for dinner. It's not that I dislike cooking, in fact I enjoy it. BUT I hate thinking of what to make. Coming up with new ways to cook chicken just does not come natually to me.

We received a grill as a wedding gift in 2001 and only recently used it. I've been grilling steaks, salmon, hotdogs and veggies. It's great!

Along with the grill I've been cooking more with my oven. It's so much easier to throw something into the oven than it is to cut it all up and stir fry. Chinese cooking tastes great and is healthy but too much prep time is needed. Time that I don't have nowadays.

I feel so organized in my kitchen. I have a four day meal plan so basically I know what we are going to have throughout the week. I don't cook on the weekend:)

Tonight we are having porkchops, brocoli and rice. Tomorrow will be grilled ribeye steak, peas and salad. Then no more cooking for 3 days! - Labour Day Weekend!!!

It's Back
Not with a vengeance but my baby's eczema came back again. He has a couple of small patches on his face and mostly on his legs. I've been giving him soy formula which is what the ped recommended and so far he has eaten rice cereal, barley cereal, squash & waxed beans. Waxed beans is the lastest thing I've introduced so it could be that. Then again, it could just be that he will get eczema on and off until he grows out of it. Ugh! I wish I knew what it is that is causing this. Eczema - leave my beautiful baby alone!

On a positive note, Aaron likes everything he has tried so far. He seems to prefer the rice and barley more than the squash and waxed beans but he eats it all:) Tomorrow's veggie - carrots!

Alone Time
How much alone time you need? Hubby and I were talking last night and in terms of time alone at home, he has none. Zero. N is virtually never home alone and it's been that way since we married in 2001! You see, we leave the house at the same time for work (when I was working) but he comes home later than I do. On the weekends, we are usually together.
It doesn't seem to bother him and he does not need to take much time out for himself. He putters around outside the house for about 15 minutes at night after the kids are in bed so that is his alone time I suppose.
I on the other hand, need a bit of time to myself each day. I don't have to be home alone but I do need a few moments to myself just to read the newspaper. I enjoy reading the newspaper (Toronto Star) and if I have extra time, I may read a magazine or go online. Oh and I have to be drinking either tea or coffee while reading:)
I used to have much more time to myself but it's not easy to find the time anymore. Still, I can't imagine not taking a few minutes for myself each day.

Eczema Update Part 4
Aaron's eczema has improved so much since we used the prescription cream and switched his formula! His face is completely clear and the rough patches on his body are gone but you can still see/feel the patches but it's not the thick scaly rough skin anymore. He's baby soft now:)

I'm thinking that most likely oatmeal is the culprit. I was using an oatmeal based wash and lotion by Huggies and then I bought Aveeno stuff which is also oatmeal based. To top it all off I started Aaron on oatmeal cereal recently. I'll still keep him on Nutramigen formula until his 6 months visit and then hopefully he can go back to his milk based formula. Yay Aaron!

Eczema Update Part 3
Yesterday I took Aaron to the pediatrician regarding his eczema. His face has cleared up a lot but the patches on his body remain and have not even improved. Doctor recommended that we put him on a hypoallergenic formula called Nutramigen by Enfamil and he also prescribed a cream called Elocom to be used on the very bad patches of eczema and a prescription hydrocortisone cream on the areas that are not as bad. I'm supposed to apply the creams twice a day for up to one week as these are strong creams. Aaron's had 2 applications so far and I can notice a bit of improvement. Oh and he told me to stop using Aveeno wash and lotion because he may be allergic to oatmeal. He also advised me to feed him rice cereal only - no more oatmeal cereal as he suspects it may be the culprit. I mentioned that when we switched his formula to a soy based one, I did not see any difference and the ped said that it is possible that he is allergic to milk AND soy! I really hope that is not the case. Please let it be the stupid Aveeno cream that I kept slathering on him and or the oatmeal cereal.

Anyway Aaron has his 6 months appointment on July 24th and the ped said that if his skin is cleared by then we can reintroduce the milk based formula. Sometimes their little digestive systems are not strong enough to break down the proteins in the formula. Fingers crossed that the eczema goes away and stays away!

Eczema Update Part 2
Well Aaron's eczema has still not cleared up. Literally I can see it getting better only to get worse again within the same day. Soooooooo, I finally switched his formula to a soy based one (Isomil) as of last night. If it clears then I will know that he is most likely allergic to the dairy in the Nestle Good Start. I really hope that this is not the case. Lucas's eczema was mostly gone by the time he was 6 months so I hope Aaron's will go away on its own too. It's not easy when kids have food allergies. I haven't resumed the rice cereal yet but I will soon. I feel that he is not full enough on formula alone.

Eczema Update
Thanks to those who posted or emailed me with advice on A's eczema. His cheeks are a bit better with all the vaseline I've been applying but I have another question with the patches on his body. Some of the patches are dry and scaly so I am confident it is eczema but he also has pink dots everywhere. On his belly in particular he has these tiny pink dots. Is that eczema too or something else? Help please!

Pediatrician's assistant just called and said it sounds like the pink dots are a heat rash. She also said that it is unlikely related to the rice cereal but recommends that we hold off on the cereal until the rash goes away and then resume again. Oh and she says to keep slathering lotion and or vaseline.

Aaron's taking a very loooong nap (not that I'm complaining:) He woke up at 7:00 am today, drank his bottle and then went down for a nap at 8:30. It's now 11:20 and he is still sleeping!

I'm Back!!!
Back to work after a week and a day vacation. We did not end up going to my cousin's wedding in New York but we did have a wonderful vacation nevertheless.

Lucas turned 2 on Oct 12th. He understood that it was his birthday and made us sing Happy Birthday to him over and over again - it's one of his favourite songs lol! It was great spending the days with him - all day everyday and it was hard leaving him this morning to go back to work. I miss my little man

Belly continues to grow. I'm 24.5 weeks right now and feeling wonderful. No complaints. Weight gain is about 20lbs right now. Baby is moving more and more and can be easily felt by hubby when he touches my belly. Lucas lifted his own shirt last night and said "baby". He's been kissing my belly everyday. I can't wait to hold my two boys at once.

Okay back to work. Too many emails to catch up on. I've been hitting "delete" as much as I can:)

Retail Therapy
We stopped by at The Scarborough Town Centre last night to pick up some diapers and I ended up buying a pair of maternity jeans and 2 tops for myself:) The jeans are Old Navy and a great bargain. Only $9.99! They are the under belly type as are all my maternity pants (still haven't tried the panel pants yet). Bonus is that I do not have to shorten them. The are size XS Short and they are a tad long with certain shoes and perfect with others so I will not be shortening them:)
The 2 maternity tops were both from Gap. One is a peach coloured cotton top that can be worn after the baby is born (comfy home wear) and the other is a v-neck beige and white striped top which looks great with my beige maternity pants. Hopefully I won't need anymore clothes. I have a lot of summer stuff and some of it can be worn in the winter with a sweater / cardigan over.
Shopping is good:)

Dinner with Coworkers
I went out to dinner with coworkers last night. There were 14 of us from different departments. We do this several times a year and it's always great fun. I've missed out on the last few gatherings because I did not want to leave Lucas but I am really glad that I went last night. We ate and chatted and had a good time:)

When I came home, Lucas was still up and so I got to spend some fun time with him before we put him to bed. N said Lucas was so well behaved but kept asking for me.

What a lovely evening I had.

So glad it's Friday!!! Tomorrow we are taking Lucas to Centre Island so I hope the weatherman is right in saying it will be sunny and 24 degrees. Sunday we made plans with our friends for dinner.

I can't wait for this day to be over so I can go home to my family. While it is Friday tonight, we are staying in for dinner instead of eating out. I'm making beef stew.

Have a super weekend everyone!

From SP
Simple pleasures?
Life's Simple Pleasures -- tagged by SailorP
Instructions: Name 10 of life's simple pleasures that you like the most, then pick 10 people to do the same. Try to be original and creative; try not to use things that someone else has already used.

1. Hearing my son Lucas say "Mommy" (I can list so many simple pleasures involving Lucas but I will refrain and list other little things I love)
2. The smell of hubby when he hugs me
3. Long conversations with my mom
4. A big juicy, well marbled ribeye steak
5. Putting on my wedding band & engagement rings in the morning
6. Having a nice long dinner and drinks with good friends
7. Wearing a new outfit for the first time
8. A good night's sleep
9. Looking out at the black waters & horizon at night on a cruise ship
10. Listening to the sounds of the ocean while lying out under the hot sun in some Caribbean island sipping a cold drink

I tag: whoever =P

6.5 weeks
I'm 6.5 weeks along and you know how after a big meal your pants/skirts feel a wee bit tighter? Well that's how I feel all the time now:) I don't think I've actually gained more than a pound if even that but because this is my second prenancy, apparently your body remembers what to do and you tend to "show" faster. I hope my body remembers to lose the weight afterwards again:)

Other than some bloating I have no symptoms at all. No morning sickness which with Lucas I had right from the beginning. Not bad ms but mild nausea and severe fatigue. This time I feel great/normal. My appetite also increased right away with Lucas but has not changed this time.

It's early but for now, I think I am having another boy! Just my feeling. I was right last time with Lucas. N would like a girl but ironically after wanting a girl badly last time and ending up with a boy, I actually don't have a preference this time. Please just let him/her be healthy.

Note to Bucky: This first update contained no tmi / gross stuff:)

Weekend Recap
I had such a nice weekend. Saturday we drove up to Guelph. Rained the entire way but just as we got to Guelph, the rain stopped. Apparently it never rained there at all. It was my girlfriend's daughter's birthday party. Lots of people and good food - bbq. Lucas had a ball. I love seeing him interact with other kids. I also announced my pregnancy to 2 of my good friends there and of course they are happy for us.

Sunday we went for dim sum at Ruby Restaurant with both sets of parents and then met up with my brother on the Danforth in the late afternoon. I had a yummy lamb souvlaki dinner at Astoria. It was very good. I usually order gyros but they did not have it on the menu. We also shared saganaki which I love:) After dinner we walked to a nearby park where Lucas played in the sand. It was so cute watching him build sandcastles. He was not too interested in the swings or slides but he loved the sand.

I live for family weekends like these.

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