...relax. Yesterday was my last day at work for the next year and I am happy! As much as I've tried to take everything in stride, the stress level was beginning to be a bit much. Working at a financial institution during December is normally a cake walk. People tend to be more concerned about spending their money, not thinking about their retirement savings. This year was totally different than years past. Many of our clients were moving their RRSP money around like crazy, plus all of the 69 year olds had to convert their RRSPs to RRIFs by December 31st, or the last business day of December 30th. Long story longer, this plus half the office being away on holidays, made for an incredibly busy latter part of December.
I have mixed feelings about being away from the office for the next year. I get along really well with a handful of co-workers and will miss them quite a lot. We get some really good banter going on and I'm certainly not going to get that from the dogs or the baby! A Mom was telling me that she realizes some days she won't have had a single conversation the entire day! Of course then her husband comes home and she wants to talk his ear off and he wants everyone to keep it down because (understandably) he's probably tired of hearing people talking to him. What a dilemma. I suppose the key is to take everything one day at a time rather than my classic approach of worrying about it before it's even happened.
I've had a bout of bad luck as of late and I'm hoping it leaves my side soon. I seem to have some negative energy, man (said in the voice of Tommy Chong).
Good news is the latest Doctor's appointment went smoothly. My blood pressure is up a bit, but after the day I had at the office it was bound to be up. The baby is fine, his head is still facing downwards which makes me wonder if he's just waiting for his exit. I saw a funny shirt the other day that read, "I went all the way down the birth canal and all I got was this stupid shirt". Yes folks, I am going to dress the wee'un in oddball clothing from time to time, so get ready. I figure I might as well dress him in funny stuff now because there will come a day when he will be able to protest and even choose his own clothing. I would really like to learn how to sew because I think I have better ideas for clothing, at least the pattern of the material, than are currently available in baby's clothing.
Who says we have to dress our babies in ducks, puppies and teddy bears? Now that conjured up an image! What I meant to say is, why is all of the baby clothing emblazened with ducks, puppies and teddy bears? I imagine if I dressed the baby in actual ducks P.E.T.A. would be all over me! I like the idea of more retro materials such as funny cartoon space cowboys or why not a Ramones t-shirt. He's no more into ducks than he is the Ramones, society just tells us to make everything cutesy.
My parents bought some really cute and verging on outrageous madras plaid pants that look like they should be on a 70 year old man playing golf in Florida - now that's what I'm talking about! I guess I'm not really into looking like everyone else and that is coming out when I think about how our child will dress. Funny thing is, at the same time I am still a sucker for the ducks, puppies and teddy bears...go figure.
Onto something a bit more thought worthy. My Doctor's appointments are now on a weekly time frame, with the next one being the dreaded internal exam. For those of you who have had it, I'm sure you're feeling my anxiety and for those who haven't had one, I won't get into the gorry details. The good thing is after the exam I will know how my cervix and pelvis are coping with the baby and how far along his head is. The even cooler thing is, this will help Dr. Lemke determine if my February 1st due date is accurate.
Happy new year everyone! I hope it's full of happiness, good health, love and excitement.
- the McKinnons
Saturday, December 31, 2005
Sunday, December 25, 2005
Merry Christmas!
"And the Grinch, with his Grinch-feet ice cold in the snow, stood puzzling and puzzling, how could it be so? It came without ribbons. It came without tags. It came without packages, boxes or bags. And he puzzled and puzzled 'till his puzzler was sore. Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn't before. What if Christmas, he thought, doesn't come from a store. What if Christmas, perhaps, means a little bit more." --- Dr. Seuss
Hope all of you have a great Christmas!
Love,
Allison, Graham, Raisin, Peanut and the Unknown one
Hope all of you have a great Christmas!
Love,
Allison, Graham, Raisin, Peanut and the Unknown one
Friday, December 16, 2005
It's finally kicked in.
I finally feel very pregnant. In actual fact, am feeling like I ate a beach ball and have yet to figure a way to get it out! All of those horrid side effects of being sprogged up are kicking in. Tree trunk ankles, a.k.a. swollen ankles; aching pelvis (that's always a good one); falling asleep at the ungodly hour of 9:15p.m.; waking up at the crazed hour of 2a.m. thinking it's time to go to work (because I slept all evening); heartburn...do you get my point yet? Funny thing is, all in all, it's been uneventful and for once in my life, that's a good thing.
I'm looking forward to the return of the following:
1. Sleeping on my back or my stomach again.
2. Drinking caffeinated tea. I've come to realize caffeine is a very important part of tea.
3. Wearing high heels...oh how I miss you girls.
4. Wearing clothes that suit me more than 'normal girl' pregnancy gear.
5. Breathing. Many of you may not realize this, but at some point in a pregnancy your baby will take to sitting on your diaphragm, thus making it feel like, well, someone is sitting on your diaphragm.
6. Drinking diet pop. I say this, but I have decided to give up pop in the new year...a gal can still dream.
I'm looking forward to experiencing:
1. What this whole experience is leading up to...our son. OMG! That sounded so real. Never fear, we have a girl's name picked out just in case the technician was wrong.
2. A bond with someone whom I've never met before.
3. A smile.
4. Everything.
I could go on forever about the things I am looking forward to, whether it be related to me or the baby.
The crib and change table arrived today and I am thrilled! I will be even more thrilled when the sun comes up tomorrow and I can get a proper look at it. See, we haven't quite sorted out a lighting situation for the baby's room yet, so I can only see the gorgeous silhouettes of the furniture - ha ha! There are still a number of items that we need to get, or so we think. I would like to get a Baby Bjorn Active carrier so that we don't always have to wheel around a stroller. Although I'll be buggered if those strollers don't get some wicked use after all of the hard work and research my Mom and I put into them!
For those of you who are counting along with me, there are 48 days left until d-day. Funny that, I can actually call it d-day and it makes sense.
One final note to those of you out there who have never been pregnant or closely known someone who is pregnant, I have a few tips. Please keep reading...
1. No matter how innocent your intentions are, never tell a pregnant gal that she is getting soooo big. Pregnant or not, women don't want to hear how big they are getting. I had a hugely fat man tell me today that I was getting to be his size. It was all I could do not to shove a ham sandwich down his throat.
2. Never touch a pregnant gal's bump without asking first. Further, don't ask to touch the bump if you don't know her very well, 'cause that's just weird. One day she may just rub your belly back. How would you feel then?
3. Telling a pregnant gal she should or shouldn't be eating or drinking something is a definite no-no. If you don't think it's suitable to the baby, I'm sure your inner voice would love to have a discussion with you. Remember, you don't know everything and neither does she, but she's sure entitled to do what she wants.
4. Don't ask her if she plans on having more children before she's even given birth to the one in her! Trial run is required.
5. Am I going back to work? I haven't even stopped going yet! The answer is, I don't know. I had no idea how irritating this question could be until I became pregnant. I'm sorry Mari for asking you this very early on in your pregnancy.
6. Remember to be polite. I know it's almost 2006 and some of our lovely and hairy feminists have made men feel like crap for opening doors for women, or giving up your seat on the Skytrain, but please, don't punish us all. If you see a pregnant woman teetering around on the wobbly train or bus, please offer the seat. Gals, that goes for you too!
7. Lastly, please remember pregnancy isn't your chance to voice all of your opinions you've gathered while reading the magazines in the doctor's office. I know you're trying to be helpful, but telling me I shouldn't be chewing gum because it has aspartame in it doesn't help me. Nor does making me feel like a fish out of water at the building's lobby party and scolding me even though I'm not drinking wine. How is this nice? I'll tell you, it's not.
Addendum: Please note the above passage does not mean that I don't need help or opinions or the support of friends and family. I love you all and will need to turn to you for some much need assistance in the future. The likelihood is, the people whom these comments are directed at probably don't even know that I have a blog, or even feelings. Most of the time these careless people are co-workers; people I can say goodbye to for a year in 8 working days!
The ranting gal.
Allison
I'm looking forward to the return of the following:
1. Sleeping on my back or my stomach again.
2. Drinking caffeinated tea. I've come to realize caffeine is a very important part of tea.
3. Wearing high heels...oh how I miss you girls.
4. Wearing clothes that suit me more than 'normal girl' pregnancy gear.
5. Breathing. Many of you may not realize this, but at some point in a pregnancy your baby will take to sitting on your diaphragm, thus making it feel like, well, someone is sitting on your diaphragm.
6. Drinking diet pop. I say this, but I have decided to give up pop in the new year...a gal can still dream.
I'm looking forward to experiencing:
1. What this whole experience is leading up to...our son. OMG! That sounded so real. Never fear, we have a girl's name picked out just in case the technician was wrong.
2. A bond with someone whom I've never met before.
3. A smile.
4. Everything.
I could go on forever about the things I am looking forward to, whether it be related to me or the baby.
The crib and change table arrived today and I am thrilled! I will be even more thrilled when the sun comes up tomorrow and I can get a proper look at it. See, we haven't quite sorted out a lighting situation for the baby's room yet, so I can only see the gorgeous silhouettes of the furniture - ha ha! There are still a number of items that we need to get, or so we think. I would like to get a Baby Bjorn Active carrier so that we don't always have to wheel around a stroller. Although I'll be buggered if those strollers don't get some wicked use after all of the hard work and research my Mom and I put into them!
For those of you who are counting along with me, there are 48 days left until d-day. Funny that, I can actually call it d-day and it makes sense.
One final note to those of you out there who have never been pregnant or closely known someone who is pregnant, I have a few tips. Please keep reading...
1. No matter how innocent your intentions are, never tell a pregnant gal that she is getting soooo big. Pregnant or not, women don't want to hear how big they are getting. I had a hugely fat man tell me today that I was getting to be his size. It was all I could do not to shove a ham sandwich down his throat.
2. Never touch a pregnant gal's bump without asking first. Further, don't ask to touch the bump if you don't know her very well, 'cause that's just weird. One day she may just rub your belly back. How would you feel then?
3. Telling a pregnant gal she should or shouldn't be eating or drinking something is a definite no-no. If you don't think it's suitable to the baby, I'm sure your inner voice would love to have a discussion with you. Remember, you don't know everything and neither does she, but she's sure entitled to do what she wants.
4. Don't ask her if she plans on having more children before she's even given birth to the one in her! Trial run is required.
5. Am I going back to work? I haven't even stopped going yet! The answer is, I don't know. I had no idea how irritating this question could be until I became pregnant. I'm sorry Mari for asking you this very early on in your pregnancy.
6. Remember to be polite. I know it's almost 2006 and some of our lovely and hairy feminists have made men feel like crap for opening doors for women, or giving up your seat on the Skytrain, but please, don't punish us all. If you see a pregnant woman teetering around on the wobbly train or bus, please offer the seat. Gals, that goes for you too!
7. Lastly, please remember pregnancy isn't your chance to voice all of your opinions you've gathered while reading the magazines in the doctor's office. I know you're trying to be helpful, but telling me I shouldn't be chewing gum because it has aspartame in it doesn't help me. Nor does making me feel like a fish out of water at the building's lobby party and scolding me even though I'm not drinking wine. How is this nice? I'll tell you, it's not.
Addendum: Please note the above passage does not mean that I don't need help or opinions or the support of friends and family. I love you all and will need to turn to you for some much need assistance in the future. The likelihood is, the people whom these comments are directed at probably don't even know that I have a blog, or even feelings. Most of the time these careless people are co-workers; people I can say goodbye to for a year in 8 working days!
The ranting gal.
Allison
Thursday, December 01, 2005
Allison
I have 62 days left until our due date of February 1st. There has already been speculation by friends and co-workers of an early delivery. I am feeling really good this week and seem to have grown a lot of hair, luckily only on my head :)
This picture was taken today, December 1st by Graham. Unfortunately Graham's photography skills are not the greatest, thus the fuzziness of the image - sorry!
I will try and get Lisa to take my picture and see if that goes a bit better.
Your ever round friend and family member - Allison.
This picture was taken today, December 1st by Graham. Unfortunately Graham's photography skills are not the greatest, thus the fuzziness of the image - sorry!
I will try and get Lisa to take my picture and see if that goes a bit better.
Your ever round friend and family member - Allison.
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