Monday, April 26, 2010

Excuse me while I sit here and eat cookies


See these cookies? These are the best cookies on the whole, entire world.
And I haven't eaten them in about four years. Crazy, right? Why would I not make my favorite cookies for four years? Well…

They have milk in them. And I can't have milk. Now, in my impetuous youth, I used to make them ALL THE TIME, ignore that I was allergic to the milk they contained, and just live on antihistamines for a week. Not terribly smart, I know. But these cookies are SO DAMN GOOD that it was totally worth it.

But then I got pregnant, and I couldn't have the antihistamines. So I tried making them with soy milk. But instead of turning out like nice, chocolatey lumps, they were liquidy blobs that didn't ever set, just sort of oozed all over my kitchen table.

But last week, my mom requested these cookies for her birthday in lieu of birthday cake, and suggested that I try using rice milk instead. And as you can see, the results were FABULOUS! These last two cookies? They are the last two of the THIRD BATCH I have made (and eaten all by myself) in the last two weeks. I could blame my very round stomach on little Kicky McGee in there, but the slightly fatter thighs and butt? No one to blame but myself and my lack of willpower.

Let me know if I've tempted anyone enough that you'd like the recipe, and I'll post it here tomorrow!

In other news: Kicky McGee moved! And I am almost completely pain-free these days. I stopped taking the Advil a couple of days after my post about the pain, just because I was too worried about taking it, despite several reassurances from several different sources that it would do absolutely no damage to baby at this point in my pregnancy. It was hard. Very, very hard. But I was coping. And then baby finally decided that sitting in the very bottom of my pelvis was not particularly comfortable, and got his/her butt off of my nerves - literally!!!!

Friday, April 09, 2010

The envelope please…


So, it turns out, they really WILL give you an envelope, if you ask nicely. I honestly didn't think they would do such a thing. I was joking when I asked, but the technician didn't laugh hysterically like I thought he would, and the next thing I know he's writing it down and sealing it in an envelope for me.

So now the sex of baby #2 is sitting in an envelope on my nightstand in my bedroom, calling my name. And it is requiring me to summon amounts of willpower I didn't even know I had.

I mean, this isn't just "I'd really like a piece of that cheesecake, but I shouldn't," willpower. Or "my legs hurt and my lungs are burning, but I only have half a kilometre left to go" willpower. Or even "you don't need that epidural, you just have to get through a few more hours, and then it's all over" willpower.

This is: THE SEX OF MY UNBORN BABY IS SITTING IN THAT ENVELOPE AND I CAN'T OPEN IT! willpower.

I don't know how you fight that. Maybe I'll go find some cheesecake. Cheesecake solves everything, right?

Wednesday, April 07, 2010

To find out or not to find out. That is the question…

Today is my 18-week ultrasound. You know - the one where you get to find out if that's a boy or a girl in there, sitting on your S5 and R1 nerves and keeping you up at night. Or is that just me?

Anyway…early on in this pregnancy, Nate and I decided that since this will be our last baby, maybe it would be fun to have this one be a surprise. We knew that Gracie was a girl, and started calling her Gracie for months before she actually arrived.

But since we've already been there and done that, and we have only one last chance to experience one of life's best surprises, maybe this time we should do it. And we were pretty resolved…until last night.

We were sitting on the couch discussing keeping it a surprise, and then the conversation morphed into: "maybe they could just put it in an envelope for us, so if we really wanted to know later, we could."

I have to admit, I'm dying to know. But there is something to be said for waiting until he/she is born. I mean, if this birth goes anything like the last one, it might be nice to have a big surprise waiting for the finish line.

Maybe they COULD just give us an envelope…

Tuesday, April 06, 2010

Dear Superstore: You Suck!

Yesterday, I did something not altogether smart. Which is a nice way to say that it was stupid. It was really, very stupid.

I took Gracie on our big grocery shopping day with no Pull-Ups on. Just underwear.

Now first, I should explain that every two weeks I do a big day of grocery shopping, and then try not to step foot in the place for the next 14 days. I find that I stick to my budget much better this way, and also, who wants to go grocery shopping every other day? So I start out at No Frills and buy 75% of the stuff on my list, then I go to the Superstore to get the stuff they don't have at No Frills. You should also know that it takes me hours and hours to shop because: 1) Gracie and I can't have dairy so I have to read every single label of every single thing that goes into my cart and 2) I have to bring a three year old with me.

It started out really well. No Frills is a small little grocery store, the kind that doesn't really have a public bathroom, just the employee bathroom that they will let you use if you are running down the aisles with a child yelling "I HAVE TO GO POTTTTTTYYYYYYYY!" at the top of her lungs. Which I did, no less then four times while shopping there yesterday afternoon. Seriously, you should have seen it. Big, fat, pregnant me, holding a 35-pound 3-year-old and pushing a full cart, running down the aisles as fast as I can while Gracie broadcast to the whole store that she really needed to pee RIGHT NOW! But she made it! And I was so proud of her! It was awesome! My daughter was finally potty trained! Woo Hoo!

And then we went to the Superstore.

Clearly, the person who designed the layout for the Superstore in Airdrie had no children. Or had never had to shop with small children. Or ever been around children. Ever.

The Superstore is, well, super-sized. It's huge. And the one and only bathroom is at the front of the store, and only accessible AFTER you have gone through the tills and paid for your groceries. I had never noticed this. To be honest with you, I've never needed to go to the bathroom there until after I was finished shopping, so how would I know? But there you go. The first time Gracie had to go, I was stopped by an employee who wanted to see the receipt for my groceries in my cart before we could go in. No receipt, no passage through the tills. I mean, I can see their point, but seriously - I had a squirming, wiggling 3-year-old doing the potty dance here. Do you really think I'm trying to skip out without paying?

The nice lady stood there and watched my cart and let Gracie and I go through. The next time Gracie had to go, we were at the very back of the store, as far from the bathrooms as a person could possibly be. Despite my best efforts, the kid couldn't hold it that long. And the very nice lady who had stood with our cart was long gone, and the next guy wasn't as nice. Gracie had to sit in her wet pants until we got done shopping.

So, today's lesson is: Never, ever take Gracie to the Superstore without a Pull-Up. And Mommy is stupid.
The End.