Well.ca Giveaway Winner!!

Well, the time has come! The winner of the Well.ca Baby Club launch $50 giveaway is ready to be announced!  Thanks everyone for entering, and I hope you had a chance to check out the new Baby Club over at Well.ca. Lots of great deals on there. Plus, now that Canada Post is back up and running, I won't have to run to the drugstore anymore...wahoo!!


So, without further ado, the winner (as chosen by random.org) is...






Comment #12: Nat and Phil!! 






Congrats! 

37 Weeks: Fully Baked!

Wow. I can't believe we've come so far! It seems so strange to think back to that day we found out we were expecting. It feels like a million years ago, and yet still I feel like it's too early for Peanut to be arriving! I think I am in denial that we will be here any day now. Technically, we still have 3 more weeks (only 21 days?!) until our due date, but 37 weeks is considered "Full-Term" for babies. Which means if I go into labour now, it's no longer "early labour" it's just freaking labour. AHHH!!!!

I have a lot of mixed emotions. I am logically thinking about all the what-ifs and am preparing for when we make that trip to the hospital. But emotionally I am still in denial that it's going to happen. The nursery is mostly finished (just have to hang one more thing), the clothes and bedding are all washed and clean and ready. We have all the essentials for when he comes home. We are attending the prenatal classes and Hubby has read the book about how to support me. We have the birth plan, we've done all the tests and the checkups. But still I feel like it's not real. I had a spell of contraction-y type things the other night when we went to the mall. The only thing running through my head was "Not yet!!". I feel like I have just gotten the hang of being pregnant. It's enjoyable! It's mostly predictable! It's even sort of fun! Birth and parenting? That's still all unknown territory.

My big belly. Hubby's camera skills. 

Hubby and I were talking it through the other day. I think I feel this way because there is absolutely nothing that I can predict or plan (besides the fact that Peanut is eventually coming out). I have no idea when he will come, how labour will feel, how I will deal with labour, how the birth will go, what he will even look like, how we will do as parents, how the hospital stay will be, NOTHING! We can't plan a single thing. It's all out of our hands. For a controlling planner like myself, it's difficult to deal with.

At the same time, its super exciting that pretty soon we are going to meet this squirmy little guy who's been living in my belly. He's starting to get a personality in there (he gets hiccups lots, gets startled by loud noises, likes it when Hubby talks to him), and it's so cool to think that soon we are going to see him and he will be larger than life! (He literally might be larger than life...the doctor said the ultrasound report  put him at "the upper-edge of normal for size"!!! EEP! I hope they mean length and not weight!!)

Now that Peanut is fully baked, we are just waiting for him to decide when it is a good time to meet us. I think the final thing I have been waiting to do in preparation is to pack my hospital bag. Well, that's on the to-do list for the day. The final hurdle before we are as ready as we can be for the greatest adventure of our life. It's a whole bunch of scary and exciting all rolled into one. WOO HOO!!

Vanilla Bean Cupcakes with Coconut Cream Cheese Icing

It was my friend Danielle's birthday, and since I am a big preggo, our usual celebration at the pub was not really looking that appetizing to me, so we had her and her boyfriend over for dinner. I made Thai chicken satay with peanut sauce and an Asian Noodle Salad. It was yummy. But it was nothing compared to the cupcakes; at least in my opinion! 

I thought about picking some up from the local bakery that makes to-die-for cupcakes, but then I knew that I would just end up picking up 2 dozen and eating one of them all by myself. And also spending like $50. So I decided I would attempt to make some instead and try to compete. 

I used the basic Vanilla Bean Cupcake recipe from How Sweet It Is, and then added my favourite icing recipe. I also attempted to make them look a little prettier than my normal cupcakes by using an icing piper thingy for the first time. I obviously need to work on some technique, but I think they turned out relatively nice. At least better than usual, where I just slather icing on with a spoon. They did, however, turn out to be absolutely delicious, if I do say so myself. The dozen I made didn't last more than a few hours between the 4 of us. Mmmm...

Vanilla Bean Cupcakes from How Sweet It Is

(makes 12 cupcakes)

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup butter

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

contents of 1/2 a vanilla bean

1 1/2 cups flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 cup milk

Preheat the oven to 350F. 

Cream butter, sugar and eggs together until fluffy. Add vanilla and the contents of the scraped vanilla bean. Mix into the batter. 

Combine the dry ingredients in a bowl. Add 1/2 of the dry ingredients to the batter, mixing until just combined. Add the milk. Once incorporated, add the remaining dry ingredients and stir until combined. 

Pour into cupcake tins. Bake for 20-25 minutes. Let cool before frosting. 

Coconut Cream Cheese Frosting

1/4 cup cream cheese, softened

2 tbsp butter, softened

1 tbsp milk

1/4 tsp vanilla

1/4 tsp coconut extract

2 cups of icing sugar

In a bowl, beat cream cheese with butter until light and fluffy. 

Beat in milk, vanilla and coconut extract. 

Reduce speed and beat in icing sugar, 1 cup at a time until fluffy. I usually add a bit more milk until I get it to the right consistency. 

Try not to eat all the icing before you get all the cupcakes iced. It's hard, I know. 

Hope you enjoy them! 

Well.ca Giveaway!!

******This Giveaway is now closed! Thanks for entering!!******

The folks over at Well.ca, Canada's online health and beauty store, are launching a Baby Club! This sounds like a great program; you get discounts on baby items, gifts, exclusive emails and incentives. The best part is it's all online, and free shipping within Canada, so the most effort I have to exert is walking to my mailbox to pick up my purchases. Sweet! 

They have some great stuff. Great deals on disposable diapers, and for those of us who use (or plan to use) cloth, they have the Bummis kits too! The Baby Club gives you a nice little discount, which is awesome because I love a good deal! Interested in signing up? Head on over to the Baby Club website. It's free to join! 

Giveaway! 

So, in order to celebrate the launch of their new Baby Club, Well.ca is going to give away $50 to use at Well.ca for one lucky reader. Woo hoo! (I have to admit, I am a little jealous though...can I enter??)

Here's the deal:

1. Head on over to Well.ca and check them out. Take a look through their Baby Club section, browse around and scope out all the goodies. 

2. Comment below this post with which item or items you would love to have, and how you would spend your $50 if you won.  

3. If you share this post on your Facebook, Twitter or Blog, just add another comment with the link and you will receive extra entries. 

And that's it! 

• The giveaway will be open until Monday, June 27th, 2011 at 6pm MST. 
• One winner will be chosen randomly from the comments posted using random.org
• The winner will have their choice of a $50 gift certificate to Well.ca, or $50 worth of product, which will be shipped directly to your home!
• Once again, only open to Canadians...sorry international readers! 

Good luck everyone! 

A Happy Update

Cutest little nose! 

Well, we had the ultrasound yesterday to investigate why I was so big. We were so lucky to have the best technician. Right from the beginning he tried to put me at ease, and he let me watch the whole exam on the screen, which was really neat to see. He says that Baby is measuring about 37 1/2 weeks, which is about 2 1/2 weeks ahead. But he says that is within normal range, and that everything looks perfectly normal. He also confirmed that yes, Peanut is definitely a boy! 

It's a nice relief to know that he thinks nothing is wrong, and we don't have to wait impatiently for the call from the doctor. 

 Thanks for all the happy thoughts and words of encouragement. They helped tremendously. We are so lucky with this pregnancy, and can't wait to meet our little man!

Some Bad News

We have been so lucky this pregnancy that everything has gone completely by the book. All our tests for Peanut and for me have come back plain ol' normal, and the symptoms I've been having have been manageable. We haven't had one incident of having to go in to the doctor or the hospital or anything worrisome happen, which has been such a blessing. We have really been lucky. 


So at our appointment this week, when the doctor went to measure my belly and ended up measuring about 5 times without saying anything, I knew something was up. So I asked her what she was getting. 


Your belly measurement is supposed to match the week of pregnancy you are in (by some strange coincidence). I am 34 weeks, so I should have had a measurement close to 34 cms. She was getting 40 cms, which would be full-term for the baby. I was pretty surprised, and so was she. Peanut is measuring 6 weeks ahead all of a sudden. Last appointment he was only 1 week ahead, so it's all been in the last 2 weeks, and my weight has not increased at all. She said she is sending us for an ultrasound to see what is going on with Peanut. Of course she said not to worry, and it was probably due to him being in a funny position and not to lose sleep over it, but it's hard not to be a little concerned at this stage of the game. 


I suppose the good news is we get to see our little man again through the ultrasound. And it's also reassuring to know that they are going to check that everything is A-OK in there, since they have just assumed it is for the last 4 months. But, it's also a little worrisome to think that something could be wrong, or that this pregnancy could no longer be as textbook as we thought. So Hubby and I are a little bit concerned, and of course I am overanalyzing every little thing that is going on in there now. Is he moving too much? Too little? Is he stressed? 


So now we play the waiting game and wait anxiously for our ultrasound on Friday, and then for the results. If everything is fine, we will find out in 2 weeks at our next appointment. If not, then we will get the dreaded call to come in earlier if they find something to be concerned about. 


This really sucks, and it's one of those helpless times when you can't do anything but worry about the little one we are so anxiously awaiting the arrival of. It really makes us thankful that we have been blessed with such an easy pregnancy so far. Our fingers are crossed that everything turns out ok. It's definitely hard being a parent. 

Now what??

Belly Self Portrait: 34 Weeks

Well, I am now officially off work. This has brought some interesting feelings to light. 


When I first found out I was pregnant, the countdown to finishing work was on. I couldn't wait until the big day came when I got to stay home legitimately and not have to think about work for at least a year (in Canada we have 1 year maternity leave...lucky us!)


During the tough first and some of the second trimester, it was the light at the end of the tunnel. Feeling so crappy and tired at work was really difficult, and I wondered how other pregnant ladies did it. I did make it through, and the pregnancy got a lot more comfortable, and things weren't so difficult anymore, which made me start questioning my decision to go off early.  


I am off about 6 weeks before my due date. Most people think that this is very very early, and they usually tell me that. I hear a lot of "you will be so bored, just waiting for the baby" and "then you have to go back to work earlier". While these may be true, this was the best choice for us when I was planning. I still think it was a good choice, it's just hard to dispel those nagging doubts in the back of my mind. Work was getting harder again, and I was using a lot of sick days. Plus, I have a need to "feel prepared" all the time. I would have been an anxious mess if I was working right up until my due date. I would have felt the to-do list following me around like the dust cloud on Pigpen. We already feel not ready as parents-to-be as the date grows closer; we don't need more help.


So now I am off, and have had the first 3 days of what it's going to be like staying at home. I have to say it is a bit of a hard adjustment. I have started tackling the nursery, and anticipate it being done in a week or 2, which is exciting. I have not experienced that famous nesting instinct yet, which sucks because I have a big aversion to cleaning. I really find it hard to get motivated to clean. When Hubby is here, we force each other to do it.


Typical  Saturday Morning


Me: This house is getting pretty gross. We have to clean. 


Hubby (looks up from playing Call of Duty): Yeah, I guess. In 20 mins? 


Me: Sigh...I suppose. I really don't want to do it. 


Hubby: Me neither. 


Me: But we have to or it will get disgusting. 


Hubby: True.


Result: we grudgingly begin cleaning and vacuuming and all the fun stuff associated with house cleaning. 




Without Hubby here it goes more like this: 


Me: I should really clean the house.


silence...


Me: Ok, maybe I will do this other, more interesting thing first. 


Result: house doesn't get clean. 


I think the key to surviving this time off without a) me going insane or b) the house falling into a state that could be showcased on Hoarders is that I will need to establish a routine. So that's on the list for Monday. I am going to go do this other, more interesting thing first...

Not...

And The Winners Are...

Thanks for participating everyone! Without further ado, here are the winners of the Cineplex movie passes! 

1. Sarah-Eve (Comment #1)

2. Eileen (Comment #8)

3. Taylor (Comment #14)

4. Holly (Comment #5)

5. Vicki (Comment #3)

The winners were chosen using Random.org. Send me an email at upmommycreek@gmail.com to claim your prize. 

Congratulations, and I hope you guys enjoy your night out at the movies!