Hypertension

My blood pressure is high.  Again.  It was high when I was pregnant with the twins. After the miscarriage, my blood pressure went back to normal within a couple of weeks (this was verified by my doctor). And now, at 15 weeks, it is back up there.

In the last week, I had a wicked headache, if you remember from my last post.  I had not really thought much about it until Tony asked if I had checked my blood pressure lately.  I had not, so I went in to his pharmacy and checked it at one of those machines.  It read 138/88.  Not hypertensive, by definition, but still higher than the 119/78 I had when I was not pregnant.  Since then, I have had 3 more headaches, and am now monitoring my blood pressure at home.  My doctor wants to see me in a couple of days regarding this, because obviously this is an issue with pregnancy and me.

Anyone wanting to send prayers and good karma my way is more than welcome to.

Happy Birthday Sacha!

My first-born is now a 4-year old.

I had a horrific migraine last night, but I really wanted to finish the knit T-Rex hand puppet that I was making for him.  All I had left to do was sew on the eyes.  So I did it, placed it in a little bag, and hung it from his doorknob.

This morning, he ran into my room with a big smile on his face: "It's my birthday today!"

I told him to go look on his door.  He came back with his puppet and gave me a big hug, saying, in a way only a sweet 4-year old boy can, "Thank you for making this for me, Mommy.  I love you SO much!"

I love you, too, Sacha.

Smells like sweet pickles

Tony is upstairs making batches and batches of pickles, and while I enjoy the smell of brine as much as the next gal, I am retreating to my blog (hello?  Anyone still out there? No?  Aw, bad bloggy Sarah neglecting her blog for so long).

Things that are happening right now:

1. I am nearly 14 weeks pregnant.  Yippee!  Hurrah!


2. There is only one jelly-bean fetus in there, as confirmed by two separate ultrasounds.


3. I have been having a pretty good pregnancy.  Not too much nausea, some fatigue, which seems to come in spurts.  My appetite is insane, and I am having a passionate love affair with 11:00 pm snacks, including, but not limited to, bologna and kraft singles sandwiches, two things I normally do not keep in the house.


4. Kees has discovered that he is a 2-year old, and should act accordingly.  Most of the time, he is still a good little boy.  Other times, however, I just want to put him in his room, close the door, and wait for him to turn 18.


5. Kees speaks in sentences now.  He is a truly bilingual child, and when he doesn't quite know the right word, he just adds "ee-nay" (or for you francophones, "-iner" to the end of words he does know.  This is how we get sentences like: "Kees bonkiner pied again."  What does this mean?  Kees bonked his foot again.  See, he does not know how to say bonk in French, but surely, since all French words end in -iner, adding that sound to the word bonk MUST be right!


6. Sacha is freaking smart.  The other day, he came up to me and said "Mommy, I have a hypothesis."  I asked him what his hypothesis was, and he replied "My shovel looks like a grader shovel, so it should pick up rocks."  When I asked him what the word hypothesis means, he said "a hypothesis is a word that you can test out."  Not bad for a 3-year old!


7. Sacha still relies on Daddy to go to sleep and stay asleep at night.  Not too sure how we are going to get over this hump (again).  We had him broken of this habit, but then we were on holidays, and sharing beds in hotels, and now we are back to square one.  The only issue now is that we have to get him sleeping alone because Kees is getting ready to move out of his crib into a twin bed.  And where is this twin bed?  On the bottom of the bunk bed that Sacha currently sleeps on.  Kees sleeps all night.  Sacha does not.  Sacha needs to start sleeping all night so he can move to the top bunk and Kees on the bottom.  This must be accomplished well before the baby comes (I am due at the end of Feb) because baby will be taking over Kees's room.  All part in parcel with having a 3 bedroom house and 3 kids.  I  have thought of putting baby with Kees, but that would involve buying another twin bed...LeSigh.


8. Tony is learning the art of home preserving.  He is currently making pickles, sweet pickles, and has already made pickled beets.  I, on the other hand, have made about 50 jars (those little 1-cup jars) of various jams and jellies.  Oh, and I waded into pressure canning territory and canned 7 quarts of spaghetti sauce.  Now, I am taking a bit of a break from canning until the tomatoes are ready and Operation Salsa kicks into effect.  I made roughly 30 pints of salsa last august, and I only have 3 left.  Salsa is a vital condiment in our house.


9. Sacha is turning 4 this week, and I have promised him a dinosaur party complete with dinosaur cake.  This will be a feat if I can pull it off...cake decor is NOT my forte.


10. We are  T-17 days from our New Brunswick trip! Just Tony and I.  No kids.  For 6 whole days. I am really excited to go, nervous about leaving Sacha (Kees will be fine) and so pumped to see my friend Lynn! I searched online today to see if I can bring my knitting needles on the plane, and I totally can.  YES!! I cannot sleep on planes, so I may as well make socks!


11. I am rewatching the entire LOST series.  In bed before I go to sleep.  I know, I am a nerd.  It really is better the second time around knowing how it all wraps up.  And yes, there WAS foreshadowing even in the first season.


12. I am in need of a good read.  Suggestions in the comments are appreciated!

Over and out, bitches.