NaBloPoMo

31 weeks…

I find this pregnancy is going by so fast, 31 weeks already but I honestly don’t feel it in the same ways as I did the last times…

As I have mentioned before, I am carrying differently this time. The baby is high and not as outwards as the first three were, I can still button up a few pairs of pants, granted, they are the ones that were loose on me already… but it is a good thing since I don’t have any other maternity pants that fit me besides a pair of stretchy black pants…

I measured myself a few days ago and was surprised to see that I was measuring 38cm… but my uterus has been high since the beginning so though I was surprised, it doesn’t phase me… but if I am measuring that I do think that I should look it more.. my belly is definitely hard though and I can feel the parts of the baby quite well… the baby is also moving like crazy and flipping over all the time… kicks are never in the same place..

Here are a few pics I took 2 days ago…(never mind the pants marks on my tummy, I pushed my pants down to take a pic… and yes, I have a cavernous belly button)

Besides that, I have been keeping up with appointments at the Chiro and for massage and with both of those my back feels great. I still have a lot of symphysis pain in the front but without the back pain, or the back pain being more dull when it does bother me, it is a lot easier to manage. Nights are still hard though, so is walking for a bit and I am definitely waddling but once I have turned over in bed, and when I am sitting in my favourite chair, I don’t feel it that much.

Because the baby is high I have been feeling out of breathe more and more… a feeling I hate. Also, the heartburn is not letting me go and everyday it gets me hard enough that it can almost bring tears to my eyes, especially when I lay down at night…

As for the stuff that needs to be done… well it all still needs to be done…

I have no energy though and the energy that I work up, I use to do something with the kids, or use to do the normal housework stuff that is falling behind completely…

In just over a week it will be Khéna’s birthday, then, after that just a few weeks until Xmas, and then a few weeks until I will be a mom for the fourth time… I am starting to look forward to meeting this new little one (and finding out if I will have a fourth boy, or a first girl)…

I need to start thinking about names!

Blogging…

I mentioned on my NaBloPoMo post that I blog for myself, as a journal of sorts, and I wanted to expand on that thought.

Blogging can be a lot of things for a lot of people. Some blog for money, some want a lot of readership and some sort of fame on the net, some have a specific theme and just talk about that, some write reviews for products and some like me just blog about their lives and what they are thinking…. The latter is what I do and is the format of the blogs I read. I am just turned off by many blogs these days that seem to be in it only for the money or fame… the posts never feel genuine, like they are coming from the person writing, but are just aiming to please everyone in order to not lose readership…

I started blogging because I needed a place that was my own, to speak my mind without needing to really watch what I say, to rant about things that I don’t agree with, talk about things that I do and to share in the way that I choose to parent. I knew when I started that there would be many who didn’t agree with me, since I was used to that and I was so surprised at the first comments I got from complete strangers, but it showed me that I was not alone in my thinking.

Over the years there have been a few controversial topics that have come up, and because I am not blogging to make money, or have the largest readership, or make everyone happy, I haven’t hesitated in speaking my mind. I have had some awful comments over the years and some heated debates, but I have had more people leave positive comments and I have never felt like I wanted to do anything less than write what is on my mind. Because, when it comes to the end of the discussion, this is my blog, this is a place were I can be myself and really share the way I feel.

That is the beauty of blogging for yourself.

a few pics from the last few days…

the kids playing at a friends home..

watching the kids from the window…

Laundry on the line

the boys playing a game with dad on a Saturday night

2 loaves of banana bread in the new toaster oven…

New haircut…

Out for a walk…

Shadows in the noon sun….

3 brothers…

the boys and I…

Raclette…

I love meals that are cooked at the table and have the ability to be whatever the person eating wants it to be.

One of those is Fondue, which is either thinly slices of meat and veggies cooked in a hot pot of flavourful broth on the table and served with sauces, bread and whatever else you want, or pieces of bread dipped in melted cheese.

(Eating Chinese Fondue a few weeks ago)

The other is Raclette.

Not only are these meals easy to prepare, but they are meals that bring everyone together at the table for more than a few minutes.

This year for Simon’s 10y anniversary of working at his job, he got a raclette grill. It was on the gift list and we had been wanting one for a while so it worked out very well.

Traditionally, Raclette comes from Europe and is the name of a semi-firm salted cheese. The cheese is warmed next to a fire or by a machine and is then scraped onto the diners plate which has potatoes, cured meats, gherkins among other things.

(colourful potatoes)

The modern way of eating raclette is by using a raclette grill. The top part heats up letting you grill whatever you please… we like having marinated beef, potatoes, shrimp and bread on top of the grill (along with other veggies depending on our moods)

Under the grill you have little wedges called “coupelles” to melt cheese. You can either melt the cheese and then pour it over your other food (this is what the boys do) or you can gather the things you have grilled into the coupelle, top with cheese and then place under the grill to melt the cheese.

Though it is very easy to find Raclette cheese around here, it is also very expensive, so to make this an easy and pretty cheap meal, we use a sharp cheddar that has been thinly sliced.

Of course, because it is cooked at the table, the preparation for this meal is also really easy.

Though the grill we have now is OK, I would really like to get a better one with a stone top that heats up better and is easier to clean up after, but for now, we are happy to have this one and it will provide us with many meals to come…

If you follow my blog, you will notice that I have been blogging every day since the first of November.

It is of course NaBloPoMo, a time when, for a whole month, the goal is to post every day.

I started this blog, my first blog, in May of 2005. I can’t believe that it has been so long!

I did it because I was tired of being places that I was not able to have a voice without it becoming a debate. I was, at that time, Moderator of the AP board on BabyCenter. It seems like a lifetime ago, and because BabyCenter was and is still a very mainstream board, the AP board was much of the same. I needed a place to be able to rant and rage and say what I felt without having to put a moderator hat on and “be nice”…I also needed to be able to finally talk about positive things (like breastfeeding milestones etc) without people taking it as an attack on their choices. (well, at times, since that has happened here too)

I have tried many times in my life to keep a journal and I have always failed. I would start, keep it up for a while and then I just stopped so I never thought when I started this blog that I would still be blogging more than 4 years later. Blogging turned out to be exactly what I needed at the time and soon after I started I stepped down from my position as moderator and never went back.

My Blog has transformed since that time, and I have grown also… going from “Paxye’s Rant” on Blogger, to “a hippie with a minivan” on WordPress here on my own domain name. The change came after I decided that I wanted this blog to be more than about rants, I wanted it to be about all the things that I am passionate about. I don’t blog for money, or to have the most readers, I blog because I want to share about my family, photography, cooking, sewing, unschooling and just being a parent.

But, as my journal experiences showed me, when I slow down it becomes harder to start up again. Last year, I was slowing down considerably and in some ways I was ready to let the blog fizzle when I heard about NaBloPoMo, and thought that it might just help me get in the beat again and it did. Though at times I find it hard to find things to post, I am glad that I have kept it up, if only it is for me to be able to look back and remember what I have been though, what my thoughts have been and see how I evolved in that time.

So, I am again using NaBloPoMo this year to give me another boost, to get back in the habit so that I don’t let the blog fizzle any time soon. 15 days in, half way through, and it hasn’t been that bad to think about what to write… I have a good feeling that I will make it for the second year which will give me another boost for the time ahead..