Returning to work

I return to work this Friday after my year off with K and I have been feeling all sorts of emotions about it. The beginning of yet another new normal.

One year

Exactly one year ago today I started feeling cramps while watching Survivor. Turns out the "cramps" were actually contractions and about twenty-six hours later K was born!

As I type this and reminisce on the events of last year, a part of me still cannot believe my baby girl turns one tomorrow. Time certainly flies when you're with the ones you love. 

You don't need souvenirs to remember

J, K, and I are finally home again after spending three weeks in Asia! En route home we realized that we really didn't do much shopping nor did we pick up any souvenirs for ourselves along the way. Instead our money (other than food, flights, and accommodations) was spent on experiences (read: tourist attractions in Beijing, parasailing in Boracay, etc), and at the end of the day I wouldn't have had it any other way. Building memories with my family? Yah, I'd say that's money well spent. :)

Great Are You Lord

It's Your breath in our lungs
So we pour out our praise 
Pour out our praise
It's Your breath in our lungs
So we pour out our praise to You only.

"Your breath in our lungs." Now that's something worth thinking on.

Getting older

Between my recent going-to-bed-ridiculously-early stints and the white hairs I've been finding on my head lately, I think my body wanted to make sure I didn't forget that I turned 31 this week. 31! How did this happen?

No Longer A Night Owl

I did something crazy last night: I went to bed at 9pm (and was asleep by 9:30pm). Yes I feel slightly pathetic about it, but it was great. In fact, I'm thinking I might do it again sooner rather than later.

fake it until you become it

Really great TED talk on body language given by social psychologist and Harvard Business School associate professor, Amy Cuddy. Our body language changes the way people perceive us, but more importantly it can change how we perceive ourselves. Very cool.

From green to yellow

There is a tree right outside K's window that is starting to gear up for winter now. Despite other trees in our neighbourhood throwing in the towel, this tree hung on for a while with it's seemingly stagnant splotchy patches of yellow. Alas, it's fighting the change no more and is finally beginning its overall transformation from green to yellow to no leaves. Crunchy leaves, here we come!

Love this season. :)

The Honourable Woman

Have you heard of this series? I recently finished watching it and it is uh-maze-ing.

The Honourable Woman is an eight-part political spy-thriller TV mini-series directed by Hugo Blick and put on by the BBC. The show centres around Nessa Stein, a business woman and humanitarian at the helm of her father's mega corporation, who basically falls down the rabbit hole into international conflict/craziness. The backdrop is the conflict in the Middle East (talk about timing), but I didn't find that it minimized the present real-life conflict there at all.

Maggie Gyllenhaal stars as Nessa and she is just so so good (even her British accent is spot on - as far as my Canadian ears can tell anyway, lol). Actually there is a lot of great acting in this series in general. As for the show itself it comes in eight fully-packed episodes (read: it won't take long to get through it) and there will not be second season. CBC is going to be airing it this fall so it you're into this kind of thing (and not faint of heart because things do get graphic in this one), check it out!

What shows have you watched lately? Any good ones to share?

Children's Book Illustrators

One of the things I like about children's books is all the pictures and illustrations! Now I'm no children's illustration connoisieur and I'm certainly no artist, but I really like what these two guys put out.

Peter H. Reynolds
(Watercolour has never looked so vibrant or fun!)


Eric Carle
(Love his unique, fun, bold, and colourful style!)

My little bookworm

We were playing with K yesterday when J and I started talking and K crawled off on her own. I looked up a minute later and saw this:

I love that she loves her books! Here's to hoping that her love for books will develop into a love for reading that will continue for many, many years to come. :)

Peering over the edge

Today I was reading a book to K while she was in her crib and after turning a page I looked up and saw her standing up, hanging onto the side of her crib, and peering over the side of the crib while grinning at me.

She is the best. :)

Note to self: Ask J to lower the crib mattress down again.

Green bin'd

Things went from looking real bad to worse for the cattleya and now it's official: the cattleya has fallen (both figuratively and literally into the green bin).

I'm sad I wasn't able to save it, but at least I tried. Better luck next time!

Orchids on the brain

I love orchids and I have two orchid plants. One is a phalaenopsis (of the "Just Add Ice" variety - more on that later) and the other is a cattleya. Sadly both were in really rough shape a few months ago so I took it upon myself to try to revive them. Here are the updates:

Phalaenopsis:
We got the phal last November when little K was born. When we first got it, I watered it by putting in 3 ice cubes weekly as per the instructions it came with but then things went downhill from there. First the blooms fell off and the spike dried up (this is normal, you just cut the spike), but then the leaves started getting wrinkly and the plant started looking really pathetic. Not wanting to give up that easily, I started researching orchid care online and realized that the "Just Add Ice" company is delusional - three ice cubes a week is not sufficient for any type of orchid. Case in point, here is how you are supposed to water them:

1/ Fill your pot with water. All the way to the brim.
2/ Soak the bark/medium for a few minutes (optional).
3/ Drain the pot of the water.

Three ice cubes?! Ha.

Anyway, the phal is actually doing pretty good now that I am watering it properly. So far there are two new leaves and new roots popping out everywhere. No shoots yet (so no bloom, boo), but I'm hopeful they will come because things are looking promising. Yes!

Cattelya:
This plant was an offshoot of my late mother-in-laws plant so I really wanted to be able to save it. It sat in our house for about a year and a half with sparse waterings here and there but somehow managed to survive, albeit barely.

Unfortunately I think the day I decided to revive it was the start of its demise. Fast forward to today and it's looking the worst it's ever looked: there are no new roots, no new leaves, and definitely no new shoots. In fact, this plant basically has no roots at all because they have all rotted. As for the leaves, it used to sport two long green ones, but they have since been cut off because they slowly shrivelled up while turning light green, then yellow, then brown.

There was a section of new green roots about a month ago, but I wasn't able to re-pot it quickly enough (kept forgetting to pick up a pot from my father-in-law's house) and now all those green roots are now dead because the plant kept bouncing here there and everywhere in the bigger pot whenever I watered it. All that's left is one TINY little green leaf (which has no roots attached to it anymore so I think it's only a matter of time before that dies off) and a mostly brown stump. I'm still hopeful and trying to water it to give it one last go but it's looking bad, guys. Real bad.

f o u r

Has it really been four years since we said, "I do?"

I guess time flies when you're with the right person.

Happy anniversary, J. :)

Her nose works!

This afternoon we checked out the Asian night market "Night It Up!" and when we passed by the stinky tofu vendors I noticed K furrowed her brows, wrinkled her nose, and had a general look of "I don't like this" meets "I think I'm going to be sick" on her face.  I made J pass by the 'stink zone' a few more times on our walk around the marketplace just to make sure it wasn't a coincidence (poor guy), and each time we passed by her facial expression would go from neutral to "Ughh." Needless to say, we were both thrilled.

Unlike me, we are pretty sure that K can smell, huzzah!

Waiting As Obedience

An excerpt from today's instalment of She Reads Truth's study on Ruth, Waiting As Obedience:

This doesn't mean that things turn out exactly the way we think they should.  Had Boaz come back and told Ruth he wasn't able to marry her, God's plan would have gone ahead of hers.  He woudl have come through, provided for her, remembered His promise.

In your waiting place, cling to the hope that never once has our God left our story unfinished and unredeemed.  It may not look how we expected but, as with Ruth and Naomi, our story is His story -- it was then and it will be in years to come. We are only to wait, to trust, to obey. 

I've always enjoyed reading through Ruth. It's a great story and she is my favourite female Bible character. However, this study has helped me go beyond just reading this book as a story, and extract lessons from text. There are so many things to learn in there and so many things I admire in Ruth - her obedience, trust, faith, patience, humbleness, inner strength, loyalty, and diligence are but a few things that come to mind.

Washed, renewed, and made anew.

"He saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit." - Titus 3:5

"Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things have passed away; behold, new things have come." - 2 Corinthians 5:17

Though we are broken, You love us and make us whole.
Though our sins are scarlet, You make us white as snow.

Walks with K

I've been taking K out for daily walks (as long as it's not raining) ever since the weather warmed up and summer arrived. (What happened to spring? I feel like we went straight to summer once winter finally finished.)  Anyway, we are generally out and about for about an hour (weather dependent), but lately our walks having been getting longer and farther. I really enjoy the time we have outside together and having her there makes all the difference (even if she generally falls asleep for at least a little bit).

I went for a walk by myself yesterday, but it just wasn't the same without her and I was home within 15 minutes. I got too bored, heh.

The Word. Werd.

I came across a Bible Study website for women today, #SheReadsTruth. According to their site, they been around for around 2 years now, but they are new to me and I'm happy to have found them. They are currently going through the book of Titus and have already completed 6 days of their reading plan. I read the first instalment today and so far so good. I'm behind and will likely remain behind (as opposed to trying to read through 6 days in 1), but I'm okay with that. I'm excited to see where this study of the Word will take me. I just need to keep with it.

I'm also currently trying struggling to keep up with my New Year's resolution of reading through the entire Bible this year. I've tried this before in the past, but have never been able to do it. To help keep myself on track, I've been trying to follow the Discipleship Journal Bible Reading Plan (hey if John Piper used it, it has got to be good), but in all of the readings except for Psalms, I'm failing miserably. (Have I mentioned I'm struggling?) As per usual it has been hard to find the discipline to be consistent, but I can't let this deter me from continuing on. I just need to keep with it.

Thank goodness for new mercies everyday.

Werd.

Big S, Little S, Sick Sick Sick.

Little K's immune system has had its hands full as of late as she has been battling a cold for the past couple of days. She has become very adept at dodging my attempts to use the nasal aspirator with her and I can tell she has better things to do than sit there patiently while I wipe the snot off her face (she'd rather be playing, thank you very much). The only time she will sit relatively still for is when I am putting vaseline under her nostrils to help alleviate any irritation under there. Smart girl.

This is her first 'real' cold, so it's a rite of passage of sorts for both her and us. Sucks to see her sick, but I know it's good for her in the long run and her immunity system will be stronger for it.

a little haiku from me to you

Today K turns six
Months not years oh me oh my
Time is flying by

Happy six months, Little One. :)

:P

K figured out how to stick out her tongue today.
She found it amusing all morning.
I find her amusing all the time.
She is the best.

first mother's day

I am so blessed to be the mother of my sweet little girl. :)
Little K, Mommy loves you to the moon and back.

the one where the fire hydrant got cold

I came across this during one of my walks with K last week:

Guess the fire hydrant just wanted to keep warm. 

Hope that whoever is missing their jacket isn't too cold.

The MacBook and the Air

The story of the tortoise and the hare ends with (spoiler alert!) the tortoise winning the race, however, in this 'Apple laptop version of the story', it's the Air that wins.

After seven (yes, seven) years with my trusty old white 13" MacBook, I finally bit the bullet and, as of today, I am starting a new relationship with an 11" MacBook Air. I'm still keeping my old one until it is run into the ground (I'm actually using it right now), but it hasn't really been functioning as a laptop for a year now (it's more like a desktop since the battery doesn't keep a charge for very long anymore and the power adaptor port is busted so we can't move the chord otherwise the connection is lost and the battery stops charging, lol) so I'm quite excited to have a real laptop again. The possibilities are endless! Even so, I'm still hoping that Old Trusty has a few years left in there somewhere. (Colour me sentimental, heh.)

As for the switch from 13" to 11", I was a little worried that I'd miss the 2" of screen space, but so far it's been a non-issue. I suppose only time will tell whether it will become a real irritant or not so stay tuned!

what is this ridiculousness?

Promposals.

Have you heard these before? They're basically when a guy (very elaborately) asks a girl to go to the prom with him, and apparently they are all the rage right now.

It's been 12 years since I went to prom (shoot, has it really been that long?) and I can honestly say that I'm so glad this promposal thing didn't exist back then. (My 18-year-old self would have thought they were silly too.) I almost feel bad for high schoolers now - talk about unnecessary pressure. I went to prom with a friend (who later became my boyfriend and then my husband) and we decided to go together over a phone conversation that went something like this: "Hey, do you want to go to prom together?" "Yah, ok."

Boom. Done.

Actually, no, it wasn't quite over yet. We went to different high schools so we still had to choose which prom to go to. How did we do this? Rock-paper-scissors, yo. Loser went to the other person's prom. (I lost, haha.) No frills. Not romantic in any way but hey, it worked for us.

...and while I didn't get a promposal in high school, I did get the best proposal from my prom date 7 years later, and I'd take that over a promposal any day. :)

book nook: wedding night

Wedding Night
Sophie Kinsella

I usually enjoy reading Kinsella's chick-lit, but this one was just so bad. Now chick-lit isn't supposed to be all deep and full of meaning, but the level of idiocy in this book was just over-the-top. Sure it was pretty hilarious and made me laugh on more than one occasion, but even the book's humour couldn't save its dumb characters or the stupidity of its plot line.


Funny? Yes.
Everything else? Bad.
Recommend? No.

How she rolls

K is continuing to grow well as evidenced by the rolls in her arms and legs. Oh the rolls. Her extremities look like they are made of sausages!

K is also rolling. From front to back and back to front, she's pretty good with both directions now. She is also good at repositioning herself in her crib too. It's always amusing to see where she has ended up when I go to get her, heehee.

She is such a little roly poly and I love her to bits.

book nook: and the mountains echoed

And The Mountains Echoed
Khaled Housseini

Since I really enjoyed reading Housseini's other two books (The Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns), I was excited when I found this one sitting on a library shelf all ready for me to borrow and read. Unfortunately, unlike his other two books, this one was a disappointment. A "Whoomp, whoomp" if you will.

The book is about multi-generational family bonds and begins centred around a brother, sister, and father. The first couple of chapters are actually quite charming and Housseini's descriptions create rich scenes while his knack for story-telling draws you into the pages.

Unfortunately, in my opinion, after the first few chapters it all went downhill from there with the introduction of too many plot lines and characters. Sure everything converged towards the end (kind of like Love Actually), but by then the story was so convoluted that I couldn't keep track of what was going on nor did I really care that I didn't know what was going on at that point (kind of like Love Actually, heh). The fact that I literally skipped some pages here and there because I found portions of the book too slow/drawn out probably didn't help but hey, I was bored. Never a good sign. While the ending did make me teary, even the ending couldn't redeem the book as a whole for me.

Would I recommend his other books? Yes. Would I recommend this one? No.

Silver linings exist even in rain clouds

The bright, sunny, and blue sky of yesterday looks like it has been covered up by a heavy, leaky, and grey drop cloth today. It's gloomy and wet out there, but after months of snow, snow, and more snow, it's raining.

Raining?! Raining! Warmer spring weather is on it's way!
(Thank goodness I can't smell the soggy worms, haha.)

No more, no less

No matter what I have done, what I am doing, or what I will do,
He has, does, and will never love me any more or any less.

Mind blown.

It starts with an S and it ends with a T

Good grief. Who knew that such little beings could have SO MUCH POO?!?! 
Oh well, at least we can be sure K is getting enough to eat...

My nose is a poser

My sense of smell is sooooooooo bad that it's basically non-existent. In my 30 years of life i can count the number of things i have smelt on one hand and i basically needed to inhale all these substances for my olfactory system to kick into gear in order for my brain to register i was actually smelling something. (Inhaling Tiger Balm? Been there, done that - finally smelt it once it was basically in my nostrils.) When I was young I used to ask my family how they smelled things because I was really at a loss. This always confused them because they didn't understand how I could not smell nor could they give me an explanation beyond "You bring your nose to it...and just...breathe in?" and this always confused me because I did everything they said they did but I still couldn't smell. I think my dad eventually gave up and he ended up telling me that I would "grow into it." Aww, bless.

My first whiff of anything came during grade 8 science class. Our teacher was teaching us how to waft and passed around a jar of "clear mystery liquid" for us to practice with the instruction to only waft the smell because the scent of the liquid was so strong. Waft?! PFFT. I stuck my nose on top of the jar opening and inhaled that sucker. A nice big deep breath. My blatant disregard for instruction paid off - for the first time ever, my olfactory system started firing and the scent of white vinegar filled my nose. You have no idea how excited this made me. Unfortunately my smelling experiences have been few and (very) far between since. Oh well.

I used to wish I could smell, that it was as easy as simply "growing into it", but now I resigned to the fact that my nose is basically decorative and have even embraced my lack-of smell in some circumstances (such a blessing during my first trimester). Despite this, I'm so intrigued by this whole olfaction thing. When my husband cooks and randomly adds in spices purely based on smell, I think it's one of the best things ever. When my sister graciously agrees to smelling a plethora of soaps or lotions so I don't end up buying something that will make me smell like a granny, I think it's one of the best things ever.  Sure, I don't get how the whole olfaction thing works, but I think it's amazing all the same. And it really is.

p.s. I really hope K doesn't pull something like this otherwise I'm in trouble. Good thing hubby can smell. :P

Future / Past

This chorus of this song has been stuck on repeat in my head for the past couple of days and I still haven't gotten sick of it which shows how much I enjoy this one both musically and lyrically.

It's been good to think and reflect on these words and what they mean.

You are my first,
You are my last,
You are my future and my past.

hello there, i'm still here

It's been a while, but so much has happened since the last time I posted! Here are some of the highlights:

1/ Arrival of Baby
We were blessed with the sweetest little girl in the whole world, K. She has overhauled our lives, but in the best way.  She is just awesome and continues to bring us so much joy, and I am so thankful that she is here.  November 14, 2013 marks the day our little family grew from two to three, and our hearts became even fuller.

2/ Official start of Maternity Leave
I feel so fortunate to have the opportunity to spend everyday with K for one year (thanks hubby)! People often ask me if I'm stir-crazy from being at home all the time and quite honestly no, I'm not. (I think being a introverted home-body really helps me out in that department, haha.) Internet is key though (not sure how mothers used to do it without it) because without the ability to go online, check e-mails, go on facebook, or stream TV shows, I'm pretty sure I might have gone loco by now. However, I have the internet at my fingertips so throw a book or two into the mix and I'm more than good to go. (Or rather, not go anywhere).

That being said, hanging out with other mommies and their little ones during the day is always such a treat. :) Yay for friends being on mat leave too!

3/ First Christmas with K
This Christmas she was only just over a month old so she definitely will not remember a thing, but we will. And it was lovely. :)

4/ K's Developmental...Development
From blob to blob with flailing limbs to little person with pretty decent control of her neck, limbs, and digits (there's nothing like intentional movements to excite this OT mommy), it has been such a pleasure witnessing K develop both motor and cognition-wise. While she has always been fun, she is interacting more and more with the world around her (this includes us!) and it will only continue getting more fun from here. We're also starting to see more glimpses of her personality shine through now and I'm excited to discover more about who she is and have her discover more about us in return. Exciting times ahead!

With all these highlights I've had my share of low-lights as well, but I choose not to dwell on those things as much as possible. Why focus on the not-so-good when there are so many things to be thankful for? Onwards and upwards, I say, onwards and upwards.