Life in progress

Riddle me this...

2006-12-30T07:50:00.000-05:00

I braved the malls for some boxing day retail therapy, and bought a few pairs of jeans... Thankfully I tried them on before buying.

Can someone explain to me how I've dropped 3 sizes, even though I haven't lost any weight in like 7 months (and I haven't gone to the gym in eons)?

Happy Hogue-idays...

2006-12-24T22:36:00.000-05:00

From my family to yours, Merry Christmas.

Speaking of Christmas...

2006-12-18T22:04:00.000-05:00

I couldn't resist posting this one...

An Early Present for Devon...

2006-12-18T21:46:00.000-05:00

Well... Steve and I had been talking about it for a while now, but finally decided to take the plunge today.

As of Wednesday, I will have a new car!! And by new, I mean it was built last Monday... WOO! Isn't it purty?

Merry Christmas to ME!!!

I'd been having a lot of probs with the ol' Cav lately... The trunk wasn't working properly (making Christmas shopping a royal pain), the exhaust was close to falling off and a two door coupe just doesn't work when you're lugging a baby in and out.

So I'm super excited... Wednesday just won't be here soon enough!

AND I'll always remember the day I got my first brand new car as it coincides with my best girl's birthday (Happy early one Corina!!).

2006-12-11T13:32:00.000-05:00

CONGRATULATIONS JAMES!!!

The following blatantly stolen from Corina's website...

Last night's disappointing dream....

2006-10-18T16:00:00.000-04:00

You know your life revolves around your child when...

Your dream of a three way with Ben Affleck and Brad Pitt involves, not sex, but setting up a play date for your daughters.

*sigh*

You can't imagine how I felt when I woke up this morning after that.

Halloween comes early

2006-10-05T12:06:00.000-04:00

Wish I could look this cute in a Halloween costume. :P

How far is too far?

2006-10-04T10:01:00.000-04:00

www.prevent-it.ca

So I've seen this commercial a couple of times now, and it STILL disturbs me. It's a retail establishment and this chick falls off a ladder, the it goes into a schpeel about injuries at the workplace or whatever, but the girl is standing there just COVERED in blood! As far as I'm concerned, this commercial is way too graphic for daytime television viewing. Hell it scares the crap outta me, I can't imagine how a child would react to it.

You wonder why society is the way it is? Watch television.

When will the envelope be pushed so far that people react?

5 months already...

2006-10-03T21:01:00.000-04:00

Wow, the time really does fly when you've got a baby to chase after. Personally I was hoping to get a few more months of her laying around not doing much, but I guess I really shouldn't be complaining...

Arwen Tricks

Smiling and laughing (especially at Chewy)
Blowing raspberries
Rolling both ways (every time you put her down... Including at changing time.)
Sitting by herself (without support)
Moving from laying on her belly to sitting (this one is brand new)
Standing and walking with support
Feeding herself cereal
Saying mamamamama, I know it doesn't mean anything at this point, but I do get a feeling of satisfaction that this one came before da da... :)

First Solids

2006-10-02T16:34:00.000-04:00

One big happy family, and some new baby tricks...

2006-05-19T14:00:00.000-04:00

Okay, hopefully this works... Not the best picture of me, but it's not like I sit around the house wearing make-up. When a picture op arises these days, you take me as I am. :) Will try and post one or two pics every so often...

Arwen's new tricks:

She's rolled over twice
Slept through the night
Smiled in response to forehead kisses twice (no, it was not gas).

All this before her month birthday! :)

Introducing...

2006-05-15T15:14:00.000-04:00

Yes, it's been a while since I've blogged. Being a new mum, it's hard to find the time to do much of anything other than tend to the baby (in fact, the baby is sound asleep on my lap as I type this. If I move her, she'll wake up the minute I put her down...).

Guess I'll start with the pertinent baby info...

Arwen Elizabeth was born 9 days late on April 25th at 8:31 am. She weighed 8 pounds, 2 ounces and was 20.5 inches long. Much to my surprise, she was born with a fair bit of medium brown hair (I was bald until my second birthday, so for some reason I expected similar from my baby.).

The hubby and I went to the hospital at 7pm on Monday (April 24) night to begin having the labour induced. We were there for about 2 hours being monitored and were finally able to go home and watch the Apprentice around 10pm (thank goodness for our PVR! It's been a life saver...). I went to bed around 11pm and was woken up around 2am by some wicked contractions. I got up and started timing them, waking the hubby up and hour later because they were 3-5 minutes apart (for the entire hour), and at least 30 seconds long. We got to the hospital around 3:30am and were admitted. Unfortunately, my normally low blood pressure had completely shot up (pre-pregnancy was around 110/60, during labour it was around 200/100!), so I was stuck in bed being monitored. Not what we'd wanted at all. Note to all the girls out there: Labour is TONS worse when you aren't upwardly mobile. In fact, I kept telling the nurses I had to go to the bathroom just so I could get out of bed and have some relief! Of course that backfired around 5:30/6:00am when they told me I was getting up too much and they would have to catheterize me. Opps. By 7:30am I was in hell. Couldn't take it anymore... So when the nurse came by and offered the demerol (for like the hundredth time since we were admitted), I finally took it. Turns out it was a REALLY good thing I did.

My OB came around 8am to check on me. At this point I knew the nurses were a little worried about something, because the atmosphere had changed and everyone in the room kept whispering (Honestly to this point I STILL don't know what happened, I'm hoping when I go back to my OB in June to find out exactly what went on.). Suddenly, there's like 10 people in the room and my OB is telling me that there taking me down to have a c-section. He explains that there's not a lot of time and they'll try to explain everything on the way to the OR... Now, I'm all doped up on demerol, so if they actually explained things to me, I don't remember. I've tried to piece everything together with the hubby's help, but he didn't get a lot of info either. In fact, he almost got left in the labour room. He said that they code blued the elevator and actually kicked another patient on a gurney off of it and when we got down to the OR they kicked a patient out of there too. So something serious must have been going on. I remember the anesthesiologist coming to speak with me while they were prepping me (wish I knew his name. He was such a nice guy.), he explained that he wasn't sure if they'd be able to do a spinal block because there wasn't a lot of time and that I may have to be put under general anesthetic. He also said that there wasn't enough time to explain the possible complications from either method, but that he'd be available when I was in recovery to answer any questions I may have... I'm (obviously) still doped up, so what am I gonna say?

I think the surgery actually started before the hubby made it into the room (apparently he had to find his own scrubs and figure out how to get all washed up). It felt like someone was jumping up and down on the gurney. Like 5 minutes or so later Arwen was born. Seeing her for the first time is completely indescribable... I think both the hubby and I had a nice little cry before both he and the baby were taken out of the room so the dr's could finish up. The anesthesiologist came back and just talked to me until I was done and wheeled to recovery. I remember at one point asking him if they were using me as an instrument table (because something rolled into my chin). I was told I'd be in recovery for an hour or so, but was instead there for over three hours. I still feel kind of robbed because I missed all of that initial time with my daughter, but it's not like I can do anything about it now... At least the hubby got to be with her and bond with her during that time.

I still find it weird and/or ironic that I was there for hours and only saw the on call dr twice, but that my own dr saw me once and immediately made the decision to proceed with surgery... I mean, from the time he saw me to the time she was born, it was only 31 minutes... Can't wait to find out why...

I'd post a pic or two, but I don't have a clue how to do it...

3 Days and Counting...

2006-04-19T18:08:00.000-04:00

Yep. I'm still pregnant.

Little bugger was supposed to be here 3 days ago, but decided that Casa Hogue is a much more comfortable abode for the time being. Had another appointment with the doctor yesterday. He didn't seem very optomistic. I've apparently made no progress with the eviction process what-so-ever and he's now concerned that I/the baby may have "cephalopelvic disproportion" or tiny pelvis/huge melon (the doctor must not have been paying attention to the size of my hips. *laugh*). After a long discussion with the hubby, we decided that if the baby hasn't arrived on its own by Monday, we'll be induced. I'll admit it, the major factor behind the decision was fear. I do NOT want to have a c-section... I didn't want to be induced either, but I'd much rather take the p-drip than be sliced open (suckily enough though, being induced doesn't take away the section risk. I may get stuck dealing with both...).

It's funny. You spend 9 months planning how you'd like to have your baby, and it can all change overnight. The hubby and I had been planning for a natural, intervention free experience. We did the research, and decided that if at all possible we wanted to avoid the drugs and the side effects they can cause. We read, took a class and practiced Hypnobirthing techniques to help us prepare for the big day and made the decision that we wanted to stay at home for as long as possible during the labour to avoid unnecessary induction methods. All that research and prep is now out the window, and I honestly couldn't be more bummed.

But I'm strong... I'll deal.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

There is NOTHING that I hate more than someone who sticks their nose in where it doesn't belong. When you're pregnant, you have to deal with this a lot... Everyone has got an "opinion" on everything. What kills me, is when they try to shove their uninformed opinion on you, when you've spent the past few months researching it to death and you know they're wrong. I appreciate the fact that for some reason you feel it necessary to try and scare the shit out of me, but you are wrong. Please keep your unhelpful comments to yourself.

God, how I wish I could say that so her, but things are (yet again) tense enough as it is...

Harder than I thought it'd be...

2006-04-15T09:24:00.000-04:00

Well, Thursday was my last "official" day at work. So I am now currently on pogey for the next year... ;P

I didn't think my last day at the office would be nearly as emotional as it was. It's not as if I'll never be returning... I'm just taking a little bit of a break. But all day, people were coming up to me and wishing me luck. Telling me that I have to bring the baby in and keep everyone updated. It was just really, nice.

I'm not anti-social at work by any means. But at the same time I'm not much of a joiner either (probably because the majority of my collegues are old enough to be my mother. Not necessarily the type of people I'd normally hang with...). I've got a core group of girls that I go for break with, but other than that I pretty much keep to myself (I mean, I do go there to earn a paycheque, not pad my social calendar)... Anyways, I'm not really sure where I was going with that...

Last Thursday after work some of my co-workers threw me a baby shower. It was amazing! So many people showed up and we got a ton of gifts for the baby. This baby is seriously spoiled already and it hasn't even made it's appearance yet.

So my due date it tomorrow, and I've been doing pretty much everything possible to get this baby here... Steve and I went out for wings last night (oh did I suffer!! I don't normally do the whole "spicy" thing very well), we've been walking the dog at least twice a day, I swear I've eaten like three pineapples to myself this week, I'm seriously trying everything I've read that can help, and nothing yet. I've been really tired and super cranky for the past few days (poor Steve, I don't envy him having to put up with me!). But this morning I woke up and feel awesome!! I actually got five STRAIGHT hours of sleep last night. I haven't done that in about a month. WOO HOO! Maybe someone will have some mercy on me and I'll be able to sleep like that until the baby comes...

And the wait continues...

2006-04-10T08:58:00.000-04:00

Before you ask, no I have not had the baby yet... If I had, I'm pretty sure blogging would not be in the cards right now... Why is it that the closer you get to your due date, the less people ask "How are you feeling?" and instead replace it with, "Oh. You're still here?".

That being said, I'm starting to feel that way myself. I'm torn between wanting the baby thing done RIGHT NOW, and just staying pregnant forever. Obviously the latter is not really a choice. But every so often it hits me that I'm having a baby, and have absolutely no clue how to care for one. What. Have. I. Done?

Hopefully the doctor gives me some good news at my appointment tomorrow (so help me if I'm still pregnant next Tuesday...).

Baby Update updated

2006-04-02T09:14:00.000-04:00

Since my rant in the previous post, I figured I'd get a little self-centred/absorbed and give a little baby update... I'll add to this tomorrow after my doctor's appointment.

I'm now 38 weeks along. Hard to believe it's almost over... I'm sitting at a total weight gain of about 16 pounds (which the doctor is completely happy with) and am feeling really good about everything... Sure my back hurts a little, I'm sick of looking at where my cute little ankles used to be and seeing these swollen, puffy @ss cankles and I'm up three times a night to use the facilities, but I know it'll be worth it. Speaking of cankles, I really have to give props to my hubby Steve... I was complaining the other day that I must not be drinking enough water and when I showed him my ankles he freaked (the dr., not worried about them. My hands and face are puff free). Ever since he's practically been waiting on me hand and foot, massaging my ankles, calf and knees ever night... That man is a god-send, and honey if you read this (which you probably won't, I don't even know if you know where my blog is...), I love you and am so glad you're mine...

As of last Monday, the baby is locked and loaded (explain to me how the baby can be dropped, but still kicking me in the lungs)... All we're waiting for is the eviction notice! :) I've actually started noticing the braxton hicks the past week and am hoping that the baby doesn't come late. The estimated due date is like a magic date in my mind, I have a feeling I'll start getting grumpy if I have to wait past it... The doctor assures me though that I'll have a baby within the next 4 weeks (ummm, thanks... But I figured that one out all by myself. *G*).

Hopefully I'll have more news tomorrow...

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April 3rd, 2006

Well, with only 13 days left, this appointment was really depressing...

Good news? No weight gained in the past week, and the blood pressure has gone down some (not that it was really high or anything, but mine normally hangs out somewhere around dead.).

Bad news? There ain't much of anything else going one. I'll spare you the gruesome details and just say that the doctor is fully expecting me to be able to make my appointment next Tuesday... Damn. For some reason I was thinking that I'd be spending this coming weekend having a baby.

Oh well... I'll be crossing my fingers that next week's full moon helps a sister out... :)

Oh My Goodness... I'm Actually Blogging...

2006-04-02T08:49:00.000-04:00

Yes, it's been a while... But LOOK! An honest to goodness blog entry. About meaningless garbage too! WOO HOO! What a treat!

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Cosmo...

Opinions on this magazine range from it being heralded as the bible for women everywhere, to it being a feminist piece of garbage that encourages women to over-analyse their relationships. Personally? I look forward to picking my copy up mid-month and spending a lazy Saturday flipping through the pages, looking for a new trick or two.

Imagine my surprise when flipping through the latest edition, I came upon an article entitled "Pregnant Chicks Who Brag Too Much" (page 186). Now as many of you know, I'm nearing the end of my pregnancy (2 weeks left baby!), so understandably I've had pregnancy on the brain a little bit. I began the article expecting the usual Cosmo brand of humour, but was QUITE disappointed with what I was reading. Okay, some of these women's antics were a wee bit over the top, but seriously! Pregnancy is the most unselfish, life altering event you can ever participate in! Why is it that when a woman is getting married, she is expected to be self-absorbed, but when a woman is pregnant she has to be exactly the same as always? When you get married, sure your life changes, but not to the extent that it will when you have children. A pregnancy can be tough work, and a little understanding and compassion for nine months isn't much to ask from people who are supposed to be your friends. What REALLY pissed me off about the article was a little red box in the corner of the first place called, "Quiet-Her Quips". These are things to say to your pregnant friend in order to get her to shut up about the pregnancy. Things like, "I'm off to go bikini shopping.", "Is it safe to gain so much weight?", and "Can I get you a drink...Opps!". If anyone said any of these things to me, I wouldn't be keeping them in my life. Can you say jealous much?! Why would anyone go out of their way to hurt a friend, let alone a pregnant one? I mean, geez! HOw would you feel if you gained 20+ pounds in 9 months?! Not very secure and happy in your appearance if you're being completely honest, and if you thought I got a little cranky during that time of the month... Multiply that by 100 baby and steer clear!

As of this moment, I am removing Cosmo from my magazine repetoire (Sorry Steve, I'll find you something else to read in the bathroom.).

Geez, can't even have a disorder! :)

2006-02-24T14:03:00.000-05:00

Disorder	Rating
Paranoid Disorder:	Low
Schizoid Disorder:	Low
Schizotypal Disorder:	Low
Antisocial Disorder:	Low
Borderline Disorder:	Low
Histrionic Disorder:	Low
Narcissistic Disorder:	Low
Avoidant Disorder:	Low
Dependent Disorder:	Low
Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder:	Low
-- Personality Disorder Test - Take It! -- -- Personality Disorders --

One of these days...

2006-02-17T13:54:00.000-05:00

I will blog for real... I promise.

Until then...

Your Daddy Is Johnny Depp

What You Call Him: Dada

Why You Love Him: He's your sugar daddy

Who's Your Daddy?

I wish I could drink...

2005-12-16T15:24:00.000-05:00

You Are a Strawberry Daiquiri

You're a fun, playful drinker who loves to party.
You may get totally wasted, but you're always a happy drunk!

What Mixed Drink Are You?

Thanks Corina! :)

My Christmas Wish...

2005-12-06T13:10:00.000-05:00

Merry Christmas? Joyous Kwanzaa? Happy Chanukah?

NO! You can't NAME the holiday you are celebrating! What year do you think this is? 1983?

Welcome to the festive or holiday season, and be grateful for all our "political correctness"!

Could you just feel the sarcasm dripping off of that last statement? :)

I for one am sick and tired of being persecuted for believing that rather than generalizing and lumping together our holidays by using a generic greeting, we should be proud of our diversity. Rather than being offended if someone takes the time to wish you a Merry Christmas, if Christmas ain't your bag, wish them a Happy Chanukah right back. Only neanderthalic assholes would be offended...

Celebrate the differences that have help to evolve our culture!!

Think of how monotonous life would be if we all shared the same beliefs. Personally, I love nothing more than a good ol' fashioned debate. If we shared all the same opinions, there would be no debate. No innovation. No future. Our differences are what push us. They inspire us. Why, during what many believe to be the most important days of the year, should we all be forced to conform to "Happy Holidays"?

Maybe I feel this way because my beliefs do not conform to any organized religion? Even so, I'm no less offended when I'm told at work that customers are to be greeted with the generic.

My name is Devon, and I celebrate Christmas and the togetherness and love of family on December 25th. Because in my mind, THAT is what this season all about.

Quote of the Day

"Happiness is having a large, loving, caring, close-knit family in another city." ~ George Burns, US actor & comedian (1896 - 1996)

Because as much as we all love and cherish our families, we are also driven insane by them. :)

Baby Pool

2005-12-01T10:33:00.000-05:00

Yup, I've started an online baby pool. It's free to play and there might even be a prize for the person who guesses closest to the baby's birthdate... It could be a good prize... You REALLY want to make a guess! Do it now!!

Place a guess in the HogueWild Babypool!!

Game name is: Hogue

For ease of voting, I have also included the above link in the footer.

Happy guessing!!

'Tis the Season...

2005-11-30T18:00:00.000-05:00

Yup. It's that time of year again... I've got that special feeling in the pit of my stomach, yes, my stomach...

OH. You thought I was talking about the HOLIDAY season... Silly you!

Sorry about that. I'm currently refusing to even THINK about Christmas... Just the thought of going to the mall makes me shudder... The pushing, the screaming, the hair pulling. And that's just me! Personally, I hate shopping at the best of times... But that's a story for another time.

Once every three years my place of employement enters into negotiations with the unionized employees (of which I am one). I am also a member of the negotiating committee. It's a lot of added stress on me (especially this time around. Between my job, bargaining and getting ready for my maternity leave, it'll be hectic. But at least it'll keep me busy, right?).

So we had our exchange of proposals this morning. Theirs was much as we expected, just as I'm sure there were no surprises in ours. Fairly uneventful if you ask me. Now we wait until our next meeting in January. Yup, you heard me, January. That's the problem with "busy" people. It's practically impossible to get them all in the same room without advanced warning. I just hope we're able to settle everything before I go into labour. :)

So after a fun filled morning of meetings, the afternoon was pretty uneventful. Now I'm looking forward to a nice warm bath, and a good snooze. How sad am I? :)

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I was SO ready do deck the Hubby this morning (in fact, I'm sure he woke up this aft with a bruise or two). He's on the afternoon shift at the moment, so he didn't end up crawling into bed until early this morn. I swear not five minutes after his head hit the pillow, it started. An incessant buzzing noise. Now the Hubby isn't normally a snorer, but I've noticed a dramatic increase in the past few weeks. Unfortunately for him, the last thing you want to do is come between a pregnant woman and her z's. So I hit him. Then I hit him harder. THEN I rolled him practically off the bed. That seemed to stop him for a while. When it started again, it was time for me to get up so I let him be. But I swear to GOD I could hear it even while I was in the shower...

Quote of the Day:

"Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." ~ Albert Einstein (1879 - 1955), attributed

Every day I go into work expecting the day to be different. I swear, sometimes it feels like I'm in that movie Groundhog's Day, with Bill Murray. I am completely in a rut at work, and severely lacking motivation to change. I'm hoping it's just the "I haven't had a real vacation since July" blahs... Because honestly, my job isn't that bad. But I seriously need a vacation. 11 days over Christmas. Can't wait...

WOO HOO!!

2005-11-29T18:50:00.000-05:00

Man I'm excited!! I've been looking for the three wisemen for my nativity scene (Willow Tree. I LOVE that stuff!!) for MONTHS!! Unfortunately every store I've been in has been sold out. I tried again to find them on my lunch to no avail... Depressed, I sat down at my computer and decided to hit Ebay, see if I could find anything interesting. AND I DID!! My wisemen!! And they were actually a fair bit cheaper than at the stores... Would've been even cheaper, but somebody thought it'd be funny to charge $18 shipping!!

Oh well... The hassle of looking is over, now the wait for them to arrive begins...

Starting Over

2005-11-29T18:25:00.000-05:00

After much hemming and hawing and many promises that I obviously have not kept, I've decided to start fresh...

MY RETURN TO BLOGGING HAS BEGUN!! :)

Since my last posts, I've made quite a few lifestyle changes:

1. My puppy is not my boss. He can survive by himself for a few hours, and constant coddling is a BAD thing...

2. I've quit smoking. Completely. I haven't had a cigarette since April or May of this year. Yes, it feels good not to smoke. But there are days when I swear if murder weren't illegal I would seriously KILL SOMEONE to have a smoke. I've been good though. No cheating or anything. And no, the fact that I've quit smoking has nothing to do with item number 4.

3. I've quit drinking. Not somthing I'm proud of, not something I necessarily did "on purpose", but something I had to do (see aforementioned item number 4).

4. I got pregnant! Yup. The Hogue's are actually procreating. Scary world isn't it? :) Seriously though, the Hubby and I couldn't be more thrilled. We've actually made it past the half way point now, and the fun has started... No real weight gain per se at this point, but I sure LOOK a heck of a lot bigger. :) This is the only time in a gal's life that she actually looks forward to looking bigger.

Now before you all start whining, I don't plan on making this an "all about my pregnancy" blog. Truth be told, women who constantly obsess about the pregnancy kinda drive me up the wall. Expect much of the same types of posts as before (only with much less bar shenanigans)....

Quote of the Day:

"Human beings are the only creatures that allow their children to come back home." ~ Bill Cosby (1937 - )

And thank goodness for that! I moved out of my parents place when I was 20. I was gonna go out and carve my niche, no one was going to stop me! I moved away from my native Ontario and ran away to complete Nowhereville, New York. After many adventures, a few tears and 3 years I found myself living back at my parents house. Did I fail? In my opinion no. My years in NY matured me beyond any experience I feel I could've had close to home. I learned to rely on myself, that selfishness really DOES hurt people and how to grow up without being a grown up. In those 3 short years I went from being a girl who cared about only herself to being a compassionate woman who drew comfort from the thoughts and feelings of others. Go Me!!