Arbonne

My sister recently had an Arbonne party. This isn't the first Arbonne party I've been to. In fact, it's the second. This second one was about ... a lot better. I'm still skeptical.

The first time I bought Arbonne I bought the baby lotion - both my kids broke out in rashes. I didn't know how/what to do to return it. I suppose in hindsight I knew it could be returned but the consultant lived FAR away and I didn't think it would be worth the hassle. :/ Hence - it is best to support local and family when it comes to these things.

That being said, my cousin and my cousin's wife ... er ... the first cousin's sister-in-law both sell Arbonne also. So does my step-sister (ish) in-law. I feel like everyone is selling Arbonne.

Anyways - I hate pushy sales people.

Onward, so I understand believing in your product but I get really irritated when I say - my kids had a reaction and people are just bewildered about it. Obviously I must be lying. I'm not. They broke out in insane rashes. Perhaps they are allergic to the fruit inside I don't know. Whatever. I'm just stating my kids were allergic or didn't react well to the baby lotion. That is all.

I had also bought the cooling foot creme that I hardly use ... ever. But when I did use it ... it did work.

So this time I bought the shampoo/conditioner to try it on my gross, dandruffy hair. Head and Shoulders is only pissing me off. Trust me,  ya'll will know if it works because I'll be super excited that it worked!!

I am intrigued in the big RE9 set but I don't have 400$ nor the patience to wash my face that many times or do that many things to my face. Seriously, I only wash my face if I put makeup on or if I smeared food. Grossed out? Don't be, by washing your face you are stripping it of the many good things on your face. Or something much fancier. Ask the Arbonne consultant - although ... I don't think she'd suggest not washing your face.

Wait. I guess I kind of do rinse it in the shower ...

........ I should shave my legs .....

Preaching to me about how healthy Arbonne is doesn't work for one reason - everyone says it about everything - except perhaps aspartane ... and drugs ... but people on drugs think it's all fine. Although I am turned off my putting baby oil or mineral oil on anything because it's gross. It is. That is a fact. Fresh, clean ... that's nice. So we'll see what the shampoo does and I can't WAIT to try it.

I also sampled a chew that is supposed to kind of help cravings (okay seriously I would be the worst consultant in the universe for this stuff because I can't remember half the things she said) after chewing three seconds I didn't want it anymore. I was full lol. But ... it didn't really stop me from snacking ... I think the cheese dip was just that awesome!!!!! GO EPICURE DIP!!!

OMG I want more of that cheese dip. GAYLE you should bring it to Lynne's on Wednesday!!! Do it. Oh ... but it might not be good anymore. That makes me sad.

Sigh. What else.

I really dislike pushy consultants.

Gayle's consultant wasn't pushy by the way. Well ... no she wasn't. She even gave Amélie the polka dotted bag. and put up with TWO kids just yelling and spilling water all over the place. It was interesting lol.

I should do some work or something.

I don't really want to ...

What could I do?

I  hope my boss never, EVER finds my blog. I'm so serious lol.

If he's reading this. I just dated this to be posted while I'm at work to fool you. FYI. Just sayin'.

Maternity Ward/Avery's birth (the nitty gritty version)

This post has been edited.

(If you don't want to read about bad things that happen and want to pretend that everything is la dee dah, then ... don't read it? That would probably be the best thing ... Hey! Consider yourself warned.)

Baby Shower

My day started off with me crawling out of bed to the sound of my toddler announcing she had to pee, followed by my baby's coos and hand slapping of his crib railing. After stumbling around for a bit I got my act in gear and did stuff. What stuff? I ... have no memory of what happened for about an hour after I woke up.

Then I got ready (showered, made Corey get up, put make-up on (I know you didn't even notice did you? I'm getting better haha)) Then I went outside to start the car ... and it wouldn't start. Blech. After dumping my cargo in the back of the car, I went back into the house and informed Corey that the car wasn't starting. He made a feeble attempt to get out of having to do anything about it, but ... it was a very feeble attempt.

Will and I watched from the window as Corey got it all figured out, boosted and all that mechanical crap. I packed Amelie into the car, after loading it up, and left the house. I had to make one stop because my neighbour T had sick kids :( so I would pick up Gayle's gift there.

I was going to be on time. Yay!

But no.

False alarm.

I forgot my juices. Turn around go back.

Get going again. Yay! Still have time to pick up that gift at the neighbor's! Wait ... where's the food? GAH! Go back. No time to stop this time.

About 1/2 way there I'm thinking about all the stuff that has to get done and I realize I forgot the coffee creamer that I purposely bought for this event. SCREW YOU COFFEE CREAMER! You can just stay home!

BEEEEEP.

Me : What's that noise? (Look down) Oh good. It's nothing important just the low fuel light. No big deal at all. 

I get to Gayle's and pick up my sister Patricia, who is going to come help me set up and I'm honking the horn, phoning her ... (somewhat like a crazy person) HURRY UP I'M GOING TO RUN OUT OF FUEL!! AAAAHHHH!  Mom was already there and waiting (sorry mom)

I didn't run out of fuel.

We got there, unloaded the car, fairly quickly actually, and I stood for ... at least 2 minutes trying to decide if I should get fuel. I went and got fuel. Then. I came back. Patricia and I then tried to make punch. It was great!! (Becky said so, therefore it was true) I can't believe I didn't take a picture of the punch. Weird.

The day itself went pretty good. Quite a few people didn't come, which was disappointing because I'd planned for that many. I mean ... if you can't come last minute, that's one thing, but knowing you won't be able to come and saying you will ... that's another. No?

But I made THIS :

Diaper cake. First one ever. I already want to make
another one. Who wants one!?

My first ever fondant cake. SUPER excited about it.
My next one will also be WAY cooler and better.

PEOPLE!

Sisters!!

ME! Doing a cool pose. Like. I'm SO hip.

Sophie the giraffe.

We played some baby bingo. Toni won. She also won the Mary Kay prize! LUCKY girl! And Melanie won my other prize! YAY! For Them. Speaking of bingo, talk about bad planning. I was down to TWO words ... and I only had 1 prize. Oopsies. Luckily only one person won! HOW? I don't have a friggin' clue!!! PHEW!

I had also made a cake. And I was SO worried it would be gross, but it was actually good! Unfortunately, I had hyped everyone into thinking it wasn't good, so ... hardly anyone ate it. Lol. Oh well. ;) I had also make cookies and fudge and mom brought lots of stuff too. I think it was alright. :)

Interesting fact : I had made some juice ice cubes that never got used. NOW what to do with them???
Interesting fact 2 :  I can't wait to make another fondant cake and diaper cake!
Interesting fact 3 : My basement is in serious need of cleaning again. Sigh.
Interesting fact 4 : I've been stalking Sweet Baby K for new things.

Updating my wardrobe ...

or .... 'not buying old people clothes' or ... 'Gayle being a bossy Bessie and acting all stylish and shit'


Interesting fact : I have no idea what it means to be 'in style'

I am a sale shopper. I see something on sale for 5$ and I'm like a puppy in a puppy food store, and there's lots of other puppies there, and kids and toys and food. It doesn't matter if my grandma would never be caught dead wearing the sweater. I want it!!!! It's only 5$ and that means I can buy TWO!! And it means I can buy that cardigan and that shirt with the inappropriate neckline! BONUS!! I only spent 25$

I consider that a successful shopping trip. My sister does not.

I was convinced to buy only t-shirts.
and a black zip up yoga type jacket, that I wanted for curling (It was over 1/2 off!!!)
I had a gift card and really I didn't have too much choice and Gayle kept nixing my faves or making fun of me. Pretty relentlessly actually. So I caved for the greater good probably.

I will probably drag her ass out again to help me update my wardrobe. Because. Well because I'd like to find better solutions to my problems :

1. My panties are all way too big.
Current solution : Wearing pants that are a little too small.
Problem : I can't actually do up my pants because otherwise I pass out and am unconscious with 2 kids. This is frowned upon.

2. My clothes are out of season, as in the colors are all wrong
Current solution : At least I'm in season for 1 season.
Problem : There are 3 other seasons.

3. Gayle says I own a lot of sweaters, but I actually don't, I just wear the ones I have ALL THE TIME. So I can understand the confusion. They are wearing out.
Current solution : I try not to make the holes bigger by playing with them.
Problem : It's really hard to resist a hole in a sweater.

4. I'm not in style.
Current solution : I try to add my wide belt to make everything look cooler. Or put my jeans into my boots. That's in style too isn't it?
Problem : I have no idea what I'm doing and end up looking like my 2 year old dressed me.

5. I do have a few nice items that Corey bought me before I knew I was pregnant, so eventually I hope to fit them again. Well ... I'm pretty close.
Current Solution : Lose just a few more lbs.
Problem : People might notice I wear the same thing over and over again and Gayle says it's definitely not in style to put Babylegs on to spice things up.

6. I own winter boots, rubber boots, brown boots, running shoes and out of style high heels.
Current Solution : Amelie plays with them
Problem : Going to work barefoot is frowned upon, and I'm not sure how stylish it is to wear winter boots in the spring ...

With all these problems, I can hardly be seen in public. It's chancy enough as it is when I'm dressed appropriately, but to be NOT stylish and crazy at the same time. 0_o.

Me : I'm totally normal. Nothing weird here.
Them : look at that totally stylish girl. Let's talk to her.
Me : I'm stylish!
Them : You are the stylish-est person we know!
Me : Did you know that physiological studies have shown that there is a transfer from the placenta of about 80 ml of blood at 1 minute after birth, reaching about 100 ml at 3 minutes after birth. These additional volumes of blood can supply extra iron amounting to 40–50 mg/kg of body weight. When this extra iron is added to the approximately 75 mg/kg of body iron that a full-term newborn is born with, the total amount of iron can reach 115–125 mg/kg of body weight, which may help prevent iron deficiency during the first year of life.

(Awkward silence)

ME : According to World Health Organization. On the other hand, there is also evidence to suggest that delayed umbilical cord clamping and cutting may put newborns at a higher risk of polycythemia, hyperbilirubinemia, and other neonatal disorders. But I take this less as a fact because it says right in the article that there is 'evidence' but it hasn't been studied or proven.

(more awkward silence)

Them : We have a baby ...
Me : We should have a play date!!! We have so much in common!!

(exchanging concerned looks)

Me : I bought these in a stylish store.
Them : They are SO stylish. You are cool. You must be normal. Let's have a play date!!

Do you see now why it's important for me to update my wardrobe?

Despite the sadness of not getting any of the wonderfully on sale grandma sweaters ...  I bought Christmas pyjamas for 5.94$ at Superstore so I felt better. I also got Amelie a superawesome black dress for next year (7,00$), that she promptly put on between my first load of groceries and my 2nd one and declared it a 'pewfect fit'.

Interesting fact : Gayle wouldn't let me buy ANYTHING cool for Avery. pfffffff.

Just because speech is free does not mean it is without consequence.

I saw that on a friend's facebook status and immediately, of course, thought it was about something I said. Then I commented. Then I deleted because I realized that :

A : Not everything is about me and not everyone is out to get me

B : Letting things rest for a while before kneading is best (like bread).

I also recently was having a fantastic discussion about choosing and God and choices we make and turned it into a rant about my sister's delivery. Lame. Hindsight is always 20/20, but I expect more from myself and was disappointed. Plus it's not like I could 'delete' that. So instead I pumped out an apology for the off-topic rant, but now that I think of it I don't think I mentioned I wanted to keep on the main topic. (Head shake)

I'm also having a different one about education! So good, but this time I kept on topic, weighed what I wanted to say and tried to say it diplomatically and with some sort of intelligence ... I think what I wanted to say came across ... less than intelligibly. Oh well. I blame fatigue.

I also think back to my sister's labor/birth She is my little sister and I'm still trying to analyze, process and file what happened and how I didn't live up to my own expectations. Well, actually, I tried to be diplomatic in the delivery room, overriding my own common sense and that disappoints me like you have NO idea. Okay, well obviously you noticed my rants, I was very displeased that I even had to THINK about being assertive. At the hospital I very much wasn't ready to deal with the consequence of my words, but ... NOW I realize ... they would have been helpless to my common sense.

Well, if you read my blog, or interact with me in any way, I don't know why you would be surprised that I reacted the way I did, by immediate blasting of the wrongs that were done. Seems to me the most logical course of action in order to get across the fact that I was not only angry, but that some real wrong had happened.

It has also occurred to me, that we, as adults, still very much need our mothers. Even if it's just to borrow a little strength to get back to 'operating' levels. (Or in my case 'sane' ... well okay borrowing from my mom won't make me like ... 'sane' per say ... but I'm sure you know what I mean.)

On the other hand, I know I'm putting my pieces back together and will be ready for another battle, another day, even though my mom is busy having some good times ;). And in the meantime some challenging and thought provoking discussions.

Interesting fact : I had to go OUT of my way not to use the phrase ... That being said ...
Interesting fact 2 : I use the word challenging a lot because I like it. Also the word disappointed came up a few times .... deal with it. Was too lazy to google any synonyms.

Avery Bliss Marie

Avery Bliss Marie
Born Feb 1st, 2011 @ 12:19 am
8lbs 1.8 ounces

I didn't actually know the entire beginning story because Gayle only told me she was kinda having menstrual cramps about every 20 minutes. Meh. We both shrugged it off.

I'll start when I got a phone call. Somewhere around 4:30 am. Scared the crap out of both Corey and I and all our phones were in our room for some mysterious reason! So it was like surround sound in Dolby Digital 5.1. Who does that?  Obviously us.

Gayle told me she was pretty sure she was having contractions. I'd told her earlier to call if they were 'for real' and she was needing company. I should have specified .... 'unless you are dying, wait until later morning' just jokes Gayle lol.

30 days of truth ~ Day 22 - Something you wish you hadn't done in your life

Seriously ... everything I did made me who I am ... but I'm sure I can pull up something ...

Ohhhh I got one. GAW.

When I was 16, I believe only 3 months after I got my license ... after Christmas(?) I think so, mom was going to Saskatoon with ... someone, for ... something. Possibly a meeting of sorts. Anyways, she told me pretty specifically, don't go anywhere! She was all like 'Gah, it's icy and cold and bad things could happen' so of course ... I said 'yes mom'.

The day she left, we were bored so decided to go get a movie in Bellevue. Needless to say I got into a car accident on some black ice. 9500$ worth of damage on our van. No one was 'seriously' hurt, but the other car was totalled and I'm pretty sure they WERE injured a bit, like physical therapy, sore neck ... not for sure though because I never was told. Double needless to say, I thought my mom was going to kill me. Gayle was with me ... surprised she still gets into the car with me ... but I'm much better now.

As you can see, my mom did not kill me. She was mad and I was grounded (not gonna lie this affected me not at all because I had no social life so haha)

I learned a lot from this, but I could have really killed someone! My sister was on the side they hit ... she has bad luck with that I suppose. Sigh.

30 days of truth - Day 04 ~ Something you have to forgive someone for

This is a big one. Hands down, my hospital experience after A was born. There's a lot of people involved in this and I'm chipping away at forgiving those near and dear to me first. It helps at how much more educated they have become, how much more aware they are of what they say to me. Most importantly, that they inform themselves and ask questions before commenting, offering suggestions and even defending me. The next step will be the actual staff at the hospital.

There is a chance in the near future that I will be standing toe to toe with Dr. D (formerly Dr. Caca). My sister's physician's back up (on call) doctor ... is dr. D. If she's not given birth by February, she will possibly fall into his 'hands'. The other physician I'm unfamiliar with (She couldn't remember his name). I may have the opportunity to speak to him directly, but the thought terrifies me. I am appalled at myself really, but his mannerism is intimidating (hence he was able to overpower me in the first place). I keep telling myself that I am not in the same frame of mind as I was when I first met him and I've asked baby Avery to come either on time or early.

In my heart, I know that he is not going out of his way to hurt women, (except perhaps in my case because there really was no reason to check inside of me like he did). Maybe he's extremely misled? Perhaps, given the opportunity, to interact as a support person instead of a 'patient' my opinion will change. I do find healing when I talk to others who've had similar experiences.

I have to admit, going to the hospital as a support person for my sister will do 1 of 2 things. Abate the anger that runs through my veins ... or exacerbate it.


I need to forgive people for what happened postpartum Amelie's birth. This is a long journey that I take step by step, day by day.