Monthly Archives: October 2010

Pain

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Sometimes, the only way to work through pain is art therapy…

FYI: I’m taking my email off my profile.  Too many troll-y emails.  I don’t care about what you have to discuss in the comments, but please don’t take the time to rip me a new one on my email account.  Thanks.  If you’re a friend and want to get ahold of me, find me on FB and I’ll send you my email address.  Xo

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PURE GENIUS!!

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Under that blanket is my couch.  Sitting on my couch are two little girls.  They have been under there with a couple of books for 30 minutes now.  They pop out once in awhile to get a new book, but other than that, they are completely silent.
Genius.  Pure and simple :)

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A tale of two shirts:

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I should have known.  Honestly, I should know by now that my brilliant ideas are often followed by screams of fury and despair: _uacct = “UA-4888259-1″;urchinTracker();

Why, you may be wondering?  This is why:

Two shirts, bought yesterday as a surprise for my bugz.  One is Tinkerbell, one is Ariel.  I was making an effort to keep the twins matching but different, and being SO NICE by getting one of each of their favourite characters!  Everyone wins.
HA!
Everyone screams, because everyone wants Ariel.  Tinkerbell who??  Even threats bribes of the nicest girl getting to pick her shirt first didn’t work.  They both want Ariel.  They are screaming, writhing messes.  
What was I thinking??

I have proof that they are occasionally cute and well-behaved:

Well, except for C-boo….

Excuse me while I rage a bit…

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Quick edit: this post is intended to focus on a nutritional product and formula companies, not individual mom’s choices.  You can read here for my stance on breast-vs-bottle.  I will stand by any mom’s choice, but I will NOT stand behind the formula industry in any way.

Okay, the rage is on.  I have a lot of work to get done tonight, but I really, really need to rant about this: _uacct = “UA-4888259-1″;urchinTracker();

Meet Similac Mom.  A new way to “bump up your nutrition” when you are either pregnant or breastfeeding.
Ya, cuz the brand loyalty you’re creating is really going to lead to improved breastfeeding efforts.  Excuse me while I snort.  I’m going to try really hard not to swear in this post, but it’s going to be hard since that’s about all I can think of to say about this.
MY PROBLEM WITH THIS:
On a happy, sparkly day at Similac’s marketing research department:  Hey, let’s take a bunch of anxious new moms-to-be and swoop down on their already abundant insecurities about what to eat, what not to eat, what’s safe, what’s not, how much, how little and so on!!  Let’s make a f&*#ing chemical concoction to “soothe” their worries by providing them nutrition in a bottle!!  It’s like SlimFast for moms!!  And then, when they are anxious new moms, our FABULOUS company name will already be perched on their lips, ready to spill forth into the open mouths of their vulnerable babes when they have doubts about breastfeeding.  After all, breastfeeding is even more complicated than eating, so we know they’ll want help there, too.

Beg your pardon, but what the frackety-frikken-frack-frack is this $#*t?
WHAT HAPPENED TO EATING FOOD??  What happened to, if you’re worried about not getting “everything” you need from your food, taking a multivitamin once a day.
W.T.F.  (ya, I wrote it.  At least I didn’t say it)
I am so freaking raged up right now, it’s not even funny.
Before I start my full-on rant, let me provide you with the ingredients in this “nutritional” supplement:
*(U-D) Water, sugar (sucrose), sodium and calcium caseinate, corn maltodextrin, high oleic safflower oil, canola oil, soy protein isolate, corn oil, potassium citrate, sodium citrate, calcium phosphate, magnesium phosphate, natural and artificial flavour, magnesium chloride, salt (sodium chloride), soy lecithin, potassium phosphate, carrageenan, ascorbic acid, zinc sulphate, ferrous sulphate, niacinamide, dl-α-tocopheryl acetate, manganese sulphate, cupric sulphate, calcium pantothenate, vitamin A palmitate, pyridoxine hydrochloride, thiamine chloride hydrochloride, riboflavin, folic acid, potassium iodide, sodium molybdate, biotin, sodium selenate, chromium chloride, vitamin D3, cyanocobalamin.
*Similac Mom vanilla Additional ingredients for chocolate: Cocoa powder, colour
Can anyone (anyone??) point out where there’s food in this?
No?  Okay.
SO!  First target: moms with morning sickness.  I’m going to tell you something straight up: for three months, I ate nothing but bananas and plain oatmeal with a side of prenatal vitamin.  That supported me and my twins just fine.  And guess what?  It was real food.  I didn’t worry about whether or not something in my “food” was going to make me sick(er), or hurt my babies because there wasn’t enough research on it.  I didn’t worry about how much of it would actually be absorbed into my body because I knew that my body was made to digest real food and that it would take as much or as little as possible.
After the three months, I endured another 22 weeks of Diclectin-based tolerance for food.  Again, food.  I needed double the calories of a regular pregnant mom (so about 600 more that a normal person), plus the extra for the dance classes I taught (maybe another 500).  All in all, I ate an extra meal and snack every day and drank whole milk instead of skim.  Sure, I ate my share of McDonald’s fries but we all know that the best cure for morning sickness is the same as your best cure for a hangover ;)
In sum, I ate food and birthed 2 healthy (albeit premature) babies.  Their weights were flippin’ awesome for 34 weeks, too.
Second target: busy moms.  Running around after your other kids, trying to work and manage the home, and all that other stuff that we do whether we’re pregnant or not, only we’ve added the extra responsibility for being responsible for the nutrition of our unborn polly pocket.  I’m barely going to address this one, because it’s the same whether you are pregnant or not: SlimFast is not a meal replacement.  It’s a lazy-ass cop-out.  So is Similac Mom.  So is Boost, Ensure, Carnation Instant Breakfast and every other convenience drink out there.  I hate to break it to you, but I get better nutrition from a latte at Starbucks and a multivitamin.  
Food to “grab” when you are too busy for a full meal: bagels, bananas, apples, cheese sticks.  Make up for the missing food groups at your next meal.  Please, for the love of all that is REAL in this world, do not trick yourself into thinking that a meal replacement beverage is a good option.  You might as well eat at McDonald’s.  Grab a plain hamburger: 250cal, 8g fat, 12g protein.  Similac Mom? 225cal, 6g fat, 12g protein.  The hamburger has (slightly) real food in it.  Processed, yes.  Fake, no.  The Similac Mom doesn’t even have FOOD in it.

Now for the mom’s who are worried about getting enough of the “right” nutrients.  How about this: if you eat what Canada’s Food Guide recommends, and make sure to get those 2 extra servings of milk, you will have everything you need and then some.  If you are worried that your diet is lacking, please take a prenatal vitamin.  Ta-freakin-da.  That is IT.  All that this “mommy supplement” is doing is filling your belly with a chemical cocktail and draining your bank account when you could be buying cute outfits and stuffed bunnies for your offspring.
But it has TWELVE GRAMS of protein!  Protein is good for me!!

Um, no.  As much as Similac’s packaging would like you to believe, protein isn’t that hard to come by.  The average adult needs about 0.8g protein per 2.2 lbs body weight, plus an extra 30g while pregnant and 20g while lactating.  I would need about 54g protein a day.  If you’re following your 2-3 servings of lean meat and 4 servings of dairy while pregnant, you’re definitely getting your protein in.  Sorry.
Oh, and if you’re nursing, protein isn’t going to help you lose weight any more than eating more meat will.  Just throwing that out there.
Finally, the breastfeeding moms:  we worry about proper nutrition even more when nursing, and it seems like a supplement that has it all would be a great idea!  No stress, no worry!  But let me throw this out on top of all my other reasons not to drink this: if formula isn’t good enough for your baby, why on earth is it good enough for you?
You are struggling to breastfeed, so you pop open a can of adult formula for yourself?
Again, WTF.  That makes even less sense to me.
I’ve said time and time again that I support a mother’s right to feed her child as she deems necessary.  Happy mom is the #1 goal.  HOWEVER, I do not believe we are existing on a level playing field when the marketing giants behind these formula companies are BLASTING women with their “support” when there isn’t enough manpower on the lactivist side to make a dent.  Where are my multi-million dollar marketing blitzes for breastfeeding?? 
OH right.  I don’t have them.  I have to depend on my own intelligence to seek out non-profit support that is hard to find and sometimes excessively pushy (although I find it’s more from a “been there, done that” point, in that it’s hard to remember how hard it was when you’re past the tears of the time).  I have to fight past hospitals that feed my BREAST ONLY babies formula when my back is turned because “they know better”, i.e., they are provided ample financial consideration by said formula companies.  I have to have my inbox and mailbox with free samples and spam, “just in case” I have difficulty breastfeeding.  I have to search out the lactation consultants in my area, and the private ones charge an average of $60/hour.  My friends didn’t breastfeed for the recommended year.  People offer me formula when my kids aren’t sleeping through the night.  There are more bottles than boppy pillows to choose from in the Babies R Us.  They making these effing Pacifeeder things:
Forgive me, I just threw up in my mouth a little.  Although, I guess if you’re too busy to feed your baby yourself, you don’t care what you’re throwing down his throat or your own.
Sorry.  This is getting angrier than I intended it to be.  Take from it what you will, but for goodness’ sake, don’t allow yourself to be blindly tricked by clever marketing!!  And if you aren’t getting the support, nutritionally or for breastfeeding, ASK ME!  I have resources for all, and will do my best to help out.  Don’t be a consumer sheep.  

Part deux

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Me: Kit-kat, go see if you can spin around in your room really fast and leave Mommy alone, okay? _uacct = “UA-4888259-1″;urchinTracker();

Brain:  You know you’re going to hell, right?

Me:  Shut it Brain.  You don’t have twins.
***
Every time I say something contradictory or disciplinary, Kit-kat drops this bomb:  ”Don’t start fights, Mommy!“
***
C-boo (in Costco):  GO SEE PRINCESSES WAHHHHHHHHHHHH!  (suddenly perfectly calm)  Oooh, look!  Tinker Magic!!
***
C-boo: NOOOOOOOOOO Tatie!!!!!!!  WEAR DA PINK PANTIES!!!!!!  NOOOOOOOO WAAAHHHHHHHHH!

Me:  Sister can pick her own panties.  It’s her bum, her choice.
C-boo:  NOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!  Tatie wear da pink panties!!!!

Me:  How about you put your OWN panties on first?

C-boo:  NOOOooooooWAAAHHhhhhhhh!!!!


Sigh…and off we go!

***


Amendment:  they keep getting their feet “stuck” in the window they popped out of the Barbie house.  How many times do I rescue them?  I forgot to rescue C-boo after I snapped this shot because I wanted to add it to the blog.  Bad momma….


From the trenches…

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Oh, how I wish my child wasn’t naked from the waist down so that I could post the video of her … 31 minute temper tantrum (and counting!!) _uacct = “UA-4888259-1″;urchinTracker();

She wants a “princess beider” – a Princess diaper, or more accurately, a demon Pull-up with 3 Disney Princesses on it.  She’s potty-trained.  
Oooh, she’s moved on to calling for Daddy now!!  Mwahaha, he’s not home, Princess!!  Just me!!

Anyway.  She was wearing pull-ups for a couple days because we had a laundry issue (i.e., I was too lazy to put the clean clothes away), and then we had a couple of run-around-like-crazy days and whatnot.  I was a lazy momma and threw the bugz in diapers.  I admit it.  But they still go to the potty, so it’s all good.
We are home all day today, and my goal was to get them back on the panty train.  Kit-kat obliged – she’s been ticked about diapers for this whole time.  C-boo though?  Wow.  A giant bird-flippin’ to the marketing teams who put our beloved Princesses on the training pants.  We are now at … 35 minutes of writhing, snotty, drooling, growling, thrashing, screaming child because I will not give in and put a DIAPER on her when we are at home.
I will break her.  This is day EIGHT of whining C-boo, of temper tantrum C-boo, of overall evil C-boo.  I WILL BREAK HER today.  I will win.  I am tired of her antics.  I have given her lots of love, lots of hugs and lots of cuddles.  It’s been returned with screams of, “GO AWAY MOMMY!!!!” 
So until she breaks, she will stay standing at the baby gate screaming for her Princess beider.  I will drink my coffee and have a nice conversation with Kit-kat and hope for the best.
Sigh….

For Today

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Outside my window … the deep dark of a winter night, snow half-melted on the ground, lots of mud and well…the start of a long season_uacct = “UA-4888259-1″;urchinTracker();

I am thankful for … the warmth of the fire behind my back!!

I am thinking … about what to do tomorrow with my girls, as well as what needs to be done tomorrow!

I am creating … this blog post, before I head to bed ;)  I am also creating a new 101 in 1001 list to start on January 1st – I’m about 2/3 of the way through, building from the mistakes I made when I created my last list!!  Exciting :)

I am celebrating … a bank account that allowed me to buy almost all organic and clean groceries tonight :)  It’s been awhile since I’ve shopped with a bit of abandon, and it felt nice to fill my cupboards with good food

From the kitchen … full cupboards after grocery shopping tonight, and prawns sauteed in an obscene amount of garlic and butter – a dish Leith and I used to eat far too much of when we were young and childless and didn’t realize that $10 was a ridiculous amount to pay for a bag of frozen, raw shrimp!
I am wearing … sweats, a sleeveless sweatshirt/vest/hoodie thingy and a lululemon top
I am reading … the second Sookie Stackhouse book.  I need a mindless read, but this series just isn’t doing it for me.

I am hoping … that Sherrie’s PVR tapes Glee tonight!!  A new guilty pleasure for me, and they are doing Rocky Horror Picture Show for Halloween – I watched it when I was only 11 and was obsessed with the soundtrack.  I still can’t believe my dad let me watch it!!

I am hearing … the whir of the ceiling fan, the crackle of the wood stove, and the faint snores from the bedrooms down the hall.

I am going … to be the guest speaker for the South West Mommy Connections group on Thursday!!  I am so honoured that they asked me to come and speak about postnatal fitness – yay for H.A.W.T. Momma, and thanks to Carol for thinking of me :)

Around the house and yard … mud and snow!  I ordered a new garage door opener to be picked up on Saturday so that I can park Constance in our newly insulated garage for the winter (thanks to Leith!).  I also need to get into my garden a shake out the plants that died but weren’t pulled up, due mostly to my laziness after the frost ;)  Ah well, learn for next year!

One of my favourite things … naps with my bugz in the afternoon.  I am still lucky – a few days a week, I am caught up enough to lay down with the girls for their nap.  I absolutely love their little warm bodies curled up against mine, fast asleep.  It completes my entire life.

A few plans for the rest of the week … picking up Kelli’s maternity prints, getting on top of cleaning my kitchen, taking some dance classes, teaching some dance classes, a private prenatal training session and celebrating our 3rd Halloween with my bugz!!

A quote for today:

Happiness is a state of mind.

How very true!!  Have a wonderful week, my friends :)

A long week ends

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…sigh _uacct = “UA-4888259-1″;urchinTracker();

It’s so hard to gear up for the coming week when you feel like you’ve had no rest!  Granted, most of this weekend has been filled with lots of fun, but I am pooped :(  I think I should proclaim the next 4 weeks my DETOX!  Not just from drinks and junk food, but from bad habits in general!!
Too much wine, too many late nights, too much unhealthy food, too many snacks and sweets, too little water, too little sleep, too much whining and too many temper tantrums, too many naps, too few naps (!) and just an overall excess of imbalance!
That being said, what a great week it was :)  I started my HAWT Momma session and am loving the response from the participating moms.  I was able to take back-to-back Salsa Burn and Fit Hop classes on Tuesday AND Thursday night!  I got to teach Core Fusion on Thursday and Friday, and take the bugz to Salsa Tots as well.  I had some Sherrie time, some Jessica time, some Erin time, some Julia time and some Liesa time, and some Leith time and bugz-time!  I drove my mom to the airport on Thursday morning, so I got some Mom time too :)
I went to a Word to the Wall party at Julia’s on Friday and had a blast at our Naughty Hottie Night Out on Saturday.  I wore trashy makeup and a too-short sequinned dress and heels that gave me blood-filled blisters on my feet :)  I spontaneously taught myself a pole dancing trick in front of a bus-full of women I hardly knew (and I was dead sober, too), and didn’t know until I was upside down if it would work.  It did.  I was a freakin’ gravity-defying hero, and I’m still pretty damn impressed with my body for knowing itself that well!!
I spent time with Leith and my girls, and fell in love with my family even more.  I managed to survive a week of non-stop whining and tantrums by constantly telling myself, “It won’t be like this forever…there will come a time when they don’t need you at all…just pick them up when they cry if that’s what they want…you can’t spoil a child with too much love…”  That being said, there was still a lot of discipline, consequences and timeouts this week ;)
So much good, yet so much energy to have all that good leaves me here at 8:45pm on Sunday night in a state of utter exhaustion.  I do love knowing that I am only about 6 months away from being able to set my girls up with breakfast they can get themselves so that I can sleep in on Sundays!!  One of the beauties of those twin babeez – the independence comes all at once!!  Yaaaa :)  
But until that time, I remain utterly exhausted, dehydrated, wrought with aches and pains and feeling slightly overwhelmed at the idea of getting through tomorrow, let alone the whole week!  Wish me luck. I mean it about the detox – my body needs some TLC and healing time!

Temptation…confession

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First, the temptation: _uacct = “UA-4888259-1″;urchinTracker();

I just finished a batch of Part Three of my holiday gift baskets.  While I don’t want to spoil the surprise for those on my basket list, I will tell you 3 things:
  1. Martha Stewart knows what she’s talking about
  2. It will cure all Facebook-related conversations
  3. You don’t want to know what you would do to get on my basket list.  It’s that good!
Now, the confession:
I didn’t vote in the civic election today.

I know, I know!  But trust that I had my reasons:  
  • The shallow reason was that I didn’t find out where our rural voting station was.  That’s the lazy excuse.  
  • There is also the fact that I had NO CLUE who our candidates were, other than the two who lazily stuck pamphlets in my door while I was at home without even bothering to ring the doorbell.  If you (or your lackeys) can’t be bothered to make the effort, I’m not going to vote for you.  The rest didn’t even make that little effort, so I was in the dark.
  • The sticking reason was that, although we’ve lived here for a year, I don’t really know the political climate of Parkland County.  I don’t complain about what we have, and yet I don’t really know what the issues are to make an informed vote.  Unlike provincial and federal elections, there are no parties that I can turn to for a basic idea of what platform I’m agreeing to vote for. Rather than be a mindless sheep making unconscious “X”s in the box, I chose to save my vote.  I don’t want to randomly pick someone who makes bad choices.
So there you go.  I made a tasty treat for my loved ones and did not uphold my civic duty, albeit for the good of the rest of the county :)  I can’t complain, but I can’t be blamed!!
But out of curiosity:  what would you do to get on my basket list?  ;)

Done!

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Finally!  After all that chaos, I am DONE my maternity shoot from September 11.  Yay!! _uacct = “UA-4888259-1″;urchinTracker();

Nose to the grind, much?  I’ve never edited that many photos in one day, and my eyeballs are bleeding for sure, but I am done!!  Yay!!  I had to get them finished so that I can have some prints done up for early next week and get everything delivered to dear, patient Kelli.  I feel so bad that it took this long, mostly due to my own installation-incompetence – ha!
But for all you savages, here is the link for my photo blog to see the sneak peek:  W Maternity.  And just cuz I love ya, here is a favourite that didn’t make the sneak peek cut ;)  
I had such a hard time finding the “just right” processing to capture the sheer emotion I feel when I look at the dad-to-be in this shot.  I’m not even sure I can verbalize what I feel, other than knowing that he will be an awesome dad and husband!!  Congratulations on your little girl, K & V!!